' » * » > > 






> ■■> > >>, 

*■> . > 



**>:»*» 



.,&?■ 






»>> > > 

:» > 

» ■:, 
- >» ■ 



:>>» 



3»> > >> ^ 



>> 












^H 






wv'yrywwv ww 



r 






,Ww * »yNv 






YWMV, 



f L1BKARY OF CONGRESS. I 

i # 

\ UNITED STATIC UF AMEKK'A. * 



ti* 






9«V y 



Wf'K 



*: w VWv;u L , Sw^jO'W 









M"'V^ v vv 






"v •' .*.«*, 



■"OHM; 



■bmw^;^ 









''' ; ;:A^ 



■■■-:.-■• 



V V.F ^ v ^ v 









@%|Wr 



,;"V V 






.vs* : 



^wwwav 



S w w w * v * >v . 



CANADA ; 



ITS DEFENCES, CONDITION, AND 
KESOUECES. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
In Two Vols., post 8vo, price 21s., 

MY DIAKY NORTH AND SOUTH. 

OR, PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. 

" The latter part of Mr. Russell's Diary is probably droller than any- 
thing which our theatrical wits will produce this Christmas. We regret 
especially that we have no space for the story respecting the President, on 
page 372 of the second volume. The United States have been a vast 
burlesque on the functions of national existence, and it was Mr. Russell's 
fate to behold their transformation scene, and to see the first tumbles of 
their clowns and pantaloons. It was time for him to come away, though 
the shame of his retirement was theirs. He did his duty while he was 
with them, and he has left them a legacy in this • Diary.' " — Times. 



CANADA; 

ITS DEFENCES, CONDITION, AND 
RESOURCES. 



BEING 



A THIRD AND CONCLUDING VOLUME OF "MY DIARY, 
NORTH AND SOUTH." 



*/ 



W. HOWARD RUSSELL, LL.D., 




LONDON : 
BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET. 

1865. 
[The Right of Translation is reserved?^ 



no* 
."&^- 



London : 
brabeury and evans, printers, v.'hitefkia rs. 






PREFACE 



I began to write this book by way of sequel to " My 
Diary North and South," with the intention of describe 
ing Canada as I saw it at the close of my visit to North 
America, but the subject grew upon me as I went on, 
and at last I discarded much personal detail, and set 
to work with the view of calling attention to the capa- 
bilities of the vast regions belonging to the British 
Crown on the American Continent, and of pointing out 
the magnificent heritage which is open to our redundant 
population. But the subject was too great for the 
compass of one volume, because connected with it, too 
intimately to be over-looked, were the questions of the 
defence and of the future of countries, which the estab- 
lishment of a Monarchical principle on an imperfect 
basis, and their dependence on the Crown, exposed to 
the hostility of a great Republic. I was, therefore, 
obliged to contract my own experiences, small as they 
were, and to omit many topics included in the original 
scope of my writing. The book was nearly finished 
when suddeuly, as it seemed, the whole of the Pro- 



VI PREFACE. 

vinces, yielding to a common sentiment of danger, sent 
their delegates to consider the policy and possibility of 
a great Confederation, which had been strongly recom- 
mended in the pages already written. The idea of such 
a Confederation was an old one ; but the prompt re- 
solve to carry it into practical effect, and the words 
spoken and acts done in consequence, rendered it 
necessary to cancel the work of many hours, as much 
of what I had written would have been anticipated by 
what has been printed. There are many dangers inhe- 
rent in the nature of the proposed Confederation : 
there are many obstacles to its harmonious and suc- 
cessful working; but on the whole some such scheme 
appears to be the only practical mode of saving the 
British Provinces from the aggression of the North 
American Republicans. 

What is to become of the existing Governments of 
Provinces ? How regulate the contentions which may 
arise between Provincial Parliaments and Provincial 
Ministers and Provincial Governors by the action of 
the Federal Parliament and of the representative of the 
Crown at the seat of Government ? The difficulties we 
foresee may never come to pass, and others far greater, 
of which we have no foresight, may arise ; but for all 
this the Confederation presents the only means now 
available, as far as we can perceive, for securing to the 
Provinces present independence and a future political 
life distinct from the turbulent existence of the United 
States. A glance at the map will reveal the extent of 



PREFACE. Vll 

the Empire which rests upon the Lakes with one arm 
on the Atlantic and the other on the Pacific, whilst 
its face is wrapped in a mantle of eternal snow ; but it 
tells us no more. No reasoning man can maintain that 
the people whom a few years will behold as numerous 
as the inhabitants of these islands, will be content to 
live permanently under the system of the Colonial 
Office. That system is probably the only one our Con- 
stitution permits us to adopt ; but it is nevertheless the 
policy, if not the duty, of this State to foster the youth 
and early life of the colonies we have founded, and to 
protect them, as far as may be, from the evils which 
shall come upon them in consequence of their present 
connection with Great Britain. Despised, neglected, 
and abandoned, the Provinces would feel less irritation 
against their conquerors than against their betrayers, 
and England might regret with unavailing sorrow the 
indifference which left her without a foot of land or a 
friend in the New World. Generosity not inconsistent 
with justice may yet lay the foundations of an enduring 
alliance where once there was only cold fealty and 
unsympathising command. A powerful State may 
arise whose greatest citizens shall be proud to receive 
such honours as the Monarch of England can bestow, 
whose people shall vie with us in the friendly contests 
of commerce, and stand side by side with us in battle. 
And when the inevitable hour of separation comes, the 
parting will not then be in anger. A Constitutional 
Republic, in which Monarchy would have been pos- 



Vill PREFACE. 

sible but for the prudence of the mother-country, may- 
exist without any hatred of Monarchy or of England ; 
and the people, born with equal rights to pursue liberty 
and happiness, would love the land from which flowed 
the sources of so many substantial blessings. 

I hope that my apprehensions may prove ill-founded, 
and that the dangers to which our North American 
possessions now, and England herself and the peace of 
the world hereafter, are in my opinion exposed, may 
be for ever averted. 

WILLIAM HOWAKD EUSSELL. 

Temple, January, 1865. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Introductory— Canada and the Mason and Slidell case — Threats of 
annexation — Defence of Canada — Reasons for visiting the British 
Provinces — Illness at New York — Hostility displayed there — 
Monotony of New York — Hotel life — " Birds of a feather " — 
Nationality absorbed — Start for Canada — Railway Companions — 
Public credulity — A victory in the papers — History of " A Big 
Fight" — General Pumpkin and Jefferson Brick 1 

CHAPTER II. 

To the Station — Stars and Stripes — Crowd at Station — Train impeded 
by Snow — Classic ground — ' ' Manhattan " — ' ' Yonkers " — Fellow- 
travellers and their ways — f ' Beauties of the Hudson " — West 
Point : their education, &c. — Large Towns on the banks of the 
Hudson — Arrive at East Albany — Delavan House — Beds at a 
premium — Aspect of Albany not impressive — Sights — The Legis- 
lature . 17 



CHAPTER III. 

Unpleasant journey to Niagara — Mr. Seward — The Union and its 
dangers— Pass Buffalo — Arrival at Niagara — A " Touter"— Bad 
weather — The Road — Climate compared — Desolate appearance of 
houses — The St. Lawrence viewed from above — One hundred years 
ago — Canada the great object of the Americans — The Welland 
Canal — Effect of the Falls from a distance— Gradual appi-oach — 
Less volume of water in winter — Different effect and dangers in 



X CONTENTS. 

PAGR 

winter— Icicles — Behind the Cataract— Photographs and Bazaar — 
Visit the " Lions " generally — Brock — American and Canadian 
sides contrasted— Goat Island — A whisper heard— Mills and 
Manufactories .28 

CHAPTER IY. 

Leave Niagara— Suspension Bridge — In British territory — Hamilton 
City — Buildings— Proceed eastward— Tox-onto — Dine at Mess- 
Pay visits — Public edifices — Sleighs — Amusement of the boys — 
Camaraderie in the army — Kindly feeling displayed — Journey 
resumed towards Quebec — Intense cold — Snow landscape — Morning 
in the train — Hunger and lesser troubles— Kingston, its rise and 
military position — Harbour, dockyards — Its connection with the 
Prince of Wales' Tour — The Upper St. Lawrence — Canada as to 
Defence 53 



CHAPTER Y. 

A rrive at Cornwall — The St. Lawrence — Gossip on India — Aspect of 
the country — Montreal — The St. Lawrence Hall Hotel — Story 
of a Guardsman — Burnside — Dinner — Refuse a banquet — Flags — 
Climate — Salon- a-manger — Coutrast of Americans and English 
—Sleighs— The "Driving Club"— The Victoria Bridge— Uneasy 
feeling — Monument to Irish emigrants — Irish character — Montreal 
and New York — The Rink— Sir F. Williams — Influence of the 
Northerners . 71 

CHAPTER VI. 

Visit the " lions " of Montreal— The 47th Regiment — The city open to 
attack— Quays, public buildings — French colonisation — Rise of 
Montreal — Stone— A French -Anglicised city— Loyalty of Canadians 
— Arrival of Troops — Facings — British and American Army com- 
pared — Experience needed by latter — Slavery . . . .87 

CHAPTER VII. 

First view of Quebec — Passage of the St. Lawrence — Novel and rather 
alarming sit ; tion — Russell's Hotel — The Falls of Montmorency, 
and the *' Cone " — Aspect of the city— The Point — ' ' Tarboggining " 



CONTENTS. XI 

PAGE 

Description of the "Cone" — Audacity of one of my companions 
— A Canadian dinner — Call on the Governor — Visit the Citadel — 
Its position — Capabilities for defence — View from parapet — The 
armoury— Old muskets — Red-tape thoughtfulness — French and 
English occupation of Quebec— Strength of Quebec . . .100 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Lower Canada and Ancient France— Soldiers in Garrison at Quebec- 
Canadian Volunteers— The Governor-General Viscount Monck — 
Uniform in the United States — A Sleighing Party— Dinner and 
Calico Ball 121 

CHAPTER IX. 

• 

Canadian view of the American Struggle— English Officers in the 
States — My own position in the States and in Canada — The Ursu- 
lines in Quebec — General Montcalm — -French Canadians — Imperial 
honours — Celts and Saxons — Salmon fishing— Early Government of 
Canada — Past and future . .128 

CHAPTER X. 

Canadian Hospitality — Muffins— Departure for the States — Desertions 
— Montreal again— Southerners in Montreal — Drill and Snow Shoes 
— Winter Campaigning — Snow Drifts— Military Discontent . .148 

CHAPTER XI. 

Extent of Canada — The Lakes — Canadian Wealth — Early History — 
La Salle — Border Conflicts — Early Expeditions— Invasions from 
New England — Louisburgh and Ticonderoga— The Colonial In- 
surrection — Partition of Canada — Progress of Upper Canada — 
France and Canada — The American Invasion — Winter Campaign — • 
New Orleans and Plattsburgh — Peace of Ghent — Political Con- 
troversies — Winter Communication — Sentiments of Hon. Joseph 
Howe — General view of Imperial and Colonial relations . .158 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Militia— American Intentions— Instability of the Volunteer Prin- 
ciple—The Drilling of Militia— The Commission of 1862— The Duke 
of Newcastle's Views — Militia Schemes— Volunteer Force — Apathy 
of the French Canadians — The first Summons , . . .200 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

PAGE 

Possible dangers — The future danger — Open to attack — Canals and 
railways — Probable lines of invasion — Lines of attack and defence — 
London — Toronto — Defences of Kingston — Defences of Quebec . 222 

CHAPTER XIY. 

Rapid Increase of Population — Mineral Wealth — Cereals — Imports and 
Exports — Climate — Agriculture — A Settler's Life — Reciprocity 
Treaty — Report of the Committee of the Executive Council — Mr. 
Gait — Senator Douglas — A Zollverein — Terms of the Convention — 
Free Trade, and what is meant by it — Mr. Gait's opinion on the 
subject — Canadian Imports and Exports . . . . .241 

CHAPTER XV. 

Reciprocal Rights — American ideas of Reciprocity — The Ad Valorem 
System — Commercial Improvements— Trade with America — The 
Ottawa Route — The Saskatchewan — Fertility of the country— Water 
communication — The Maritime Provinces — Area and Population . 259 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The " A shburton Capitulation" — Boundaries of Quebec— Arbitration 
in 1831 — Lord Ashburton's Mission — The questions in dispute— 
"The Sea" v. "The Atlantic" — American Diplomatists — 
Franklin's Red Line — Compromise — The Maps — Maine — Damage to 
Canada — Mr. Webster's Defence — His Opinion of the Road— Value 
of the Heights— Our Share of Equivalents— Strategic value of 
Rouse's Point— Mr. Webster on the Invasion of Canada — Vermont 
— New Hampshire • 283 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Acadian Confederation— Union is Strength—The Provinces— New 
Brunswick— The Temperature— Trade of St. John— Climate and 
agriculture of Nova Scotia— Newfoundland— Prince Edward Island 
—The Red River District— Assiniboia— The Red River Valley- 
Minnesota and the West— The Hudson's Bay Company— Their 
Territory— The North-West Regions— Climate of Winnipeg Basin— 
The area of Winnipeg Basin — Finances of the Confederation — 
Imports, exports, and tonnage— Proposed Federal Constitution— 
Lessons from the American struggle ...... **10 



CANADA: 

ITS DEFENCES, CONDITION, AND 

RESOURCES. 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory — Canada and the Mason and Slidell case — Threats of 
annexation — Defence of Canada — Keasons for visiting the British 
Provinces — Illnes3 at New York — Hostility displayed there — 
Monotony of New York — Hotel life — "Birds of a feather" — 
Nationality absorbed — Start for Canada — Railway Companions — 
Public credulity — A victory in the papers — History of " A Big 
Fight " — General Pumpkin and Jefferson Brick. 

I do not pretend to offer any new observations on 
the climate, soil, or capabilities of Canada, nor can I 
venture to call these pages a " work " on that great 
province. I have nothing novel to advance in the hope 
of attracting an immigration to its widespread territo- 
ries, and any statistical facts and figures I may use are 
accessible to all interested in the commerce or in the 
past, present, and future of the land. 

Nor do I write with any particular theory iu view, or 
with any crotchet on the subject of colonies, outlying 
provinces, and dependencies, and their value or detri- 
ment to the dominant commercial and imperial power. 

My actual acquaintance with the country and the 
people is only such as I acquired in a few weeks' travelling 



2 CANADA. 

in the depth of winter; and such sort of knowledge as 
I gathered would certainly afford no great excuse in 
itself for intruding my remarks or opinions on the 
public when so many excellent books on Canada already 
exist. 

But it happened that my visit took place at a very 
remarkable period of Canadian and American history, 
and at a time, too, when certain doctrines, broached 
not for the first time, but urged with more than usual 
ability, as to the relations between what for con- 
venience I call the mother-country and her colonies, 
were exciting great attention across the Atlantic. 

When I left Washington in the winter, a great crisis 
had been peacefully but not willingly averted by a con- 
cession on the part of the Federal Government to what 
the sentiment of the American people considered an 
exhibition of brute force. The first year of the war had 
closed over the Federals in gloom. Their arms were 
not wielded with credit at home — if credit ever can 
attach to arms wielded in a civil war — and the foreign 
power which it had been their wont to treat with some- 
thing as near akin to disrespect as diplomatic decency 
would permit, aroused by an act which outraged the laws 
of nations and provoked the censure of every European 
power with business on the waters,, had made prepara- 
tions which could only imply that she would have 
recourse to hostility if her demands for satisfaction were 
refused. 

It was under these circumstances that England 
obtained the reparation for which she sought, and in 
the eyes of Americans filched a triumph over their flag 
and took an insolent advantage over their weakened 
power " to do as they pleased," General McClellan, 



THE REVENGE OP THE FUTURE. 3 

playing the part of Fabius, perhaps because he knew 
not how to play any other part, had fallen sick and was 
nigh at death's door in the malarious winter at "Wash- 
ington. The great Union army, like ahybernating eel 
in the mud, lay motionless, between the Potomac and 
the clever imposture of the Confederate lines and 
wooden batteries at Manassas. 

But haughty and hopeful as ever, in tone if not in 
heart, the Americans raved about vengeance for their 
own just concessions. They boasted that the seizure of 
Canada would be one of the measures of retaliation 
to which they intended promptly to resort, as the 
indemnity to their injured vanity and as compensation 
for the surrender of Messrs. Mason and Slidell. 

Meanwhile the small force of British troops stationed 
in Canada was reinforced by the speedy dispatch of 
some picked regiments from England, which did not 
raise it much beyond its regular strength, and tardy 
steps were taken to organise an efficient militia in the 
province. The volunteer movement had extended its 
influence across the ocean, and a commendable activity 
all over the British Colonies and Canada falsified the 
complacent statements of the American papers that the 
people were not loyal to the Crown nor careful of the 
connection, which, it was alleged, they would gladly 
substitute for the protection of the standard of the 
Northern Republic. 

All these necessary precautions against the conse- 
quences of the refusal of the American Government to 
yield the passengers taken from under our flag, were 
watched angrily and jealously in the States. The British 
reinforcements were ridiculed; their tedious passages, 
their cheerless marches, were jeeringly chronicled. 

b 2 



4? CANADA. 

Whole ships were reported to have gone down with 
living cargoes. Those who landed were represented as 
being borne on sleighs by sufferance routes, which 
would be impracticable in war. The Canadians were 
abused — and so were the Provincialists. The volun- 
teers were assailed with the weapons which the 
American press knows so well how to use. 

But that was false policy. It gave a stimulus to 
the loyal feeling of the subjects of the Crown. The 
Canadian press retorted, and, exulting in the triumph 
of the Home Government over the Republican Admi- 
nistration, uttered the taunts which Americans least 
brook to hear. 

It was assumed that the task of vengeance and con- 
quest would be light. I received letters in which it was 
maintained that Canada could not be defended, and that 
she was not worth defending ; others merely urged that 
if the Canadians would not take a prominent part in 
aid of imperial measures for their protection, they must 
be handed over to the invading Americans ; that their 
country cost more than it was worth, and that it was a 
mistake to keep any connection with the wrong side of 
the ledger, no matter what the results of rupturing it 
might be. 

Americans told me "General Scott declares the 
Canadian frontier is not capable of defence." True, 
Americans had told me some months ago that General 
Scott, now mis en retraite in New York, after a hasty 
return from Europe — not, as was asserted, with diplo- 
matic authority or with the view of invading Canada, 
but to save his pension in case of foreign war — would 
be in Richmond about July 22nd or 24th, 1S01. I 
heard some views of the same kind from our own officers, 



AMERICA AND ENGLAND. 5 

who expressed doubts respecting the possibility of a 
successful resistance to American invasion. 

Now if that were so, it struck me that the troops we 
had in the country could prove but of little use, and 
that at the same time the relative condition of strength 
between the United States and Great Britain had 
undergone a vital change in face of the very agencies 
which ought to have established more solidly the results 
obtained in the last trial of force and resources be- 
tween them on Canadian ground. It was worth while 
trying to ascertain the truth and to resolve these 
questions. 

The United States, dreading a foreign war which 
might interfere with their invasion of the Southern 
States, had ungraciously made a concession, in revenge 
for making which their press declared they would on 
the first convenient occasion make war on the Power 
they had offended, in a country which they had invaded 
with all their united power — when Great Britain, steam- 
less and remote, was engaged in European conflicts and 
destitute of maritime allies — only to meet with defeat, 
or with success of a nature to prove their incompetency 
to conquer. 

Was the power of this distracted republic, con- 
tending furiously with rebellious members, then, 
become so great ? If so, with what motive was Great 
Britain hurrying across the sea the elite of her 
troops — too few to save these vast domains, too many 
to lose, and far too many to return as paroled prisoners? 
AVhy try to defend on such terms what was worthless 
and indefensible ? Canada, if not susceptible of defence, 
would be certainly unsuitable as a base for offensive 
operations against the States. Obviously the matter 



6 CANADA. 

stood thus : that the military question depended on the 
temper and spirit of the people themselves. 

The whole force of the Canadians, sustained by- 
Great Britain, might, apparently, defy all the offensive 
power of the United States ; and I desired to ascertain 
in what condition were their temper and defences. 

At this time British officers were endeavouring to 
prepare the possessions of the Crown against threatened 
invasion. The Americans on their side were busy forti- 
fying some important points on the lakes. 

General Totten, an officer of the United States Engi- 
neers, well known for his ability, was understood to be 
engaged on a very elaborate plan of works along the 
frontier. Colonel Gordon, whose name will be for ever 
associated with the left attack at the siege of Sebas- 
topol, aided by an experienced staff, was employed on 
our side, studying the capabilities of the frontier, and 
maturing a plan for the consideration of the Government 
in case of an American war. 

There were reasons, too, of a personal character for 
my visiting Canada. I had a fever, which was con- 
tracted at Washington and laid me prostrate at New 
York. It was of the low typhoid type, which proved 
fatal to so many in the Federal army at the same time, 
and its effects made me weaker for the time than I ever 
remember to have been. There was no promise what- 
ever of military operations, and I read every day of the 
arrival of friends and acquaintances in Canada, whose 
faces it would be pleasant to see, after the endurance of 
so many hostile glances and such public exhibition of 
illw-ill. 

I do not wish to dwell on private annoyances, but as 
an instance of the feeling displayed towards me in New 



THE NEW YORK CLUB. 7 

York I may mention one circumstance. On my arrival 
in 1861 I was elected an honorary member of the club 
which derives its name from the state or city, and was 
indebted to its members for many acts of courtesy and 
for more than one entertainment. Returning to the 
city from Washington early this year, I was invited to 
dine at the same club by one or two of my friends. 
Certain members, as I afterwards heard, took umbrage 
at my presence, and fastened a quarrel on my enter- 
tainers. A day or two subsequently the people of New 
York were called on, by the notorious journalist who 
had honoured me with his animosity ever since I 
refused the dishonour of his acquaintance, to express 
their indignation at the conduct of the club ; and the 
members received a characteristic reprimand for their 
presumption in letting me into the club, from which 
they had kept their censor and his clientelle carefully 
out. My offence was rank; and public opinion — or 
what is called so — perhaps was in favour of the 
ostracism at that moment; for, as far as I know, the 
people must have believed I was the sole cause of the 
Federal defeat and flight at Bull Run. 

There was some novelty in the idea of starting for 
Canada in the midst of the bitter winter wind and the 
dazzling snow ; but I would have gone to Nova Zembla 
at the time to have escaped the monotony of New York, 
which the effects of recent illness rendered more irk- 
some. 

New York is among cities, what one of the lower 
order of molluscous animals, with a single intes- 
tinal canal, is to a creature of a higher development, 
with various organs, and full of veins and arteries. 
Up and down the Broadway passes the stream of life 



8 CANADA. 

to and from the heart in Wall-street. In the narrow 
space from water to water on either side of this dry canal 
there is comparatively little animation, and nothing 
at all to reward the researches of a stranger. 

Johnson's remark about Fleet-street would apply with 
truth to the gawky thoroughfare of the Atlantic Tyre. 
In the Broadway or its " west-end" extensions are to be 
found all the hotels, which are the ganglia of the feverish 
nervous system so incessantly agitated by the operations 
of the journalistic insects living in secret cysts nigh at 
hand. All day the great tideway is rolling in, headed 
by a noisy crest of little boys, with extras under their 
arms, and heralded by a confused surfy murmur of 
voices telling "lies" for cents, and enunciating "Another 
Great Union Victory \" in one great bore; or it is rush- 
ing out again with a dismal leaden current, laden with 
doubts and fears, as the news of some disaster breaks 
through the locks of government reservoirs and floods 
the press. 

In my hotel, where I was fain to seclude myself in 
my illness, and to follow the very un-American prac- 
tice of living in a suite of private rooms, there was 
but little conflict of opinion on any great event, real or 
fictitious, which turned up from day to day. The 
guests and visitors were well-nigh all of one way of 
thinking. They were of the old conservative party, 
so oddly denominated Democrats, who believed in States 
Rights : in the right of states to create and maintain r 
their domestic institutions — to secede, if they pleased, 
from the Union — to resist the attempts of the General 
Government of the other states to coerce them by force 
of arms. 

Some of these gentlemen were satisfied the South 



NEW YORK DEMOCRATS. 9 

would not be coerced ; some hoped the South would 
resist successfully. None, I fear, were "loyal" to 
President Lincoln and Mr. Seward, and I am sure 
none would have said so much for either of them or 
their friends as I would. 

The majority principle forces people who hold similar 
views to meet together, and to select the same hotels to 
live in. This is unfortunate for a stranger who desires 
to hear the views of both sides. In the New York, 
from the highly artistic and skilful operator who flashed 
out cocktails at the bar, up to the highest authority, 
there was no man who would like to say that he was 
on good terms with Mr. Sumner, or that he did not 
think Mr. Seward the representative of evil principles. 
The rule was proved by the exceptions : two I suspect 
there were — stout Irish waiters, who did not approve of 
the attempts to destroy " our glorious Union," but who 
did not find the atmosphere of the place quite favour- 
able to the free expression of the opinion they mildly 
hinted at to myself. 

The sameness of ideas, of expressions, of faces, 
became unbearable. I could tell quite well by the look 
of men's faces what news they had heard, and what 
they were saying or going to say about it. Here 
were crafty politicals and practical men of business, 
and persons of a philosophical and reflective tem- 
perament, as well as the foolish, the mere pleasure- 
hunters, and the unthinking mass of an hotel world, all 
looking forward to a near to-morrow to end the woes of 
the state, always waiting for a "decisive" battle or "an 
indignant uprising of the people " to drive the Repub- 
licans out of power and office. 

Not one of them could or would see that the contest, 



10 CANADA. 

when terminated, would give birth to others — that the 
vast bodies of diverse interests, prejudices, hatreds, and 
wrongs set in motion by war over so enormous a 
surface, where they had been kept suspended and inert 
by the powers of compromise, could never be recon- 
solidated and restored to the same state as before, and 
that it would be the work of time, the labour of many 
years, ere they could settle to rest in any shape what- 
ever. 

I am told respectable Americans do not use the word 
" Britisher," but I am bound to say I heard Americans 
who looked very respectable using the word at the time 
of which I speak, when there was still irritation on both 
sides in consequence of the surrender of Mason and 
Slidell — in the minds of the friends of the South, 
because they were balked in their anticipation of a 
foreign war ; in the Federal mind, because, after much 
threatening and menaces, they had seen the captives 
surrendered to the British by the President, or, more 
properly speaking, by Mr. Seward. 

Hence it was, perhaps, that Canada was always men- 
tioned in such a tone of contempt, as though the 
speakers sought to relieve their feelings by abuse of a 
British dependency. 

" Goin' to Canada !" exclaimed the faithful Milesian 
who had been my attendant — in fact, my substitute for 
a nurse. " Lord help us ! That's a poor place, any- 
how. I thought you'd be contint wid the snow we've 
got here. It's plinty, anyhow. But Canada V 3 The 
man had never been there in his life, but he spoke as 
if it were beyond the bounds of civilisation. He had 
served in a British regiment for many years ; many of 
his brothers had been, I think he told me, in the service, 



CHANGE OF FEELING. 11 

but now they were all in the States, and to his notion 
thriving like himself. 

In no country on earth is an old nationality so soon 
absorbed as in America. I am inclined to think the 
regard professed for England by American literary men 
is sentimental, and is produced by education and study 
rather than by any feeling transmitted in families or 
by society. 

The emigrant, it is remarked, speedily forgets — in 
the hurry of his new life the ways of the old slip out of 
his memory. One day I said to my man, as a regiment 
of volunteers was marching down Broadway, u Those 
fellows are not quite as well set up as the 41st, Pat." 
' ( Well, indeed, and that's thrue ; but they'd fight as 
well I b'lieve, and better maybe, if they'd the officers, 
poor craychures ! Anyhow," continued he with great 
gravity, " they can't be flogged for nothin' or for any- 
thing." "Were you ever flogged?" "No, sirir — 
not a lash ever touched my back, but Pve known fine 
sogers spiled by it." It is likely enough that he had 
never thought on the subject till he came to the States 
— a short time before and he would have resented 
deeply the idea that any regiment on earth could stand 
before Her Majesty's 41st. 

It was now near the end of January, and as a gleam 
of fine weather might thaw the glorious Union army of 
the Potomac, and induce them to advance on the 
inglorious army of the Confederacy, I resolved to make 
the best of my way northwards forthwith. 

My companions were a young British officer, 
distinguished in the Crimea, in India, and in 
China, who represented a borough in Parliament, 
and had come out to see the great contest which 



12 CANADA. 

was raging in the United States ; and an English 
gentleman, who happened to be at New York, and 
was anxious to have a look at Niagara, even in its 
winter dress. 

On the 27 th January we were all packed to start by 
the 5.30 p.m. train by Albany to Niagara, and thence 
to Toronto. The landlord made me up a small assort- 
ment of provisions, as in snow-time trains are not always 
certain of anything but irregularity. I was regarded as 
one who was about to make myself needlessly miserable 
when he might continue in much happiness. " You 
had better stay, sir, for a few days. I have certain 
intelligence, let me whisper you, that the Abolitionists 
will be whipped at the end of this week, and old Abe 
driven out of Washington." 

The little boys still shout out, "Another great 
Union victory." The last, by-the-bye, was of General 
Thomas, at Somerset, which has gradually sublimed 
into uncertainty, though he handled his men well, and 
is not bad at a despatch. 

The credulity of the American mind is beyond belief. 
Populus vult decipi — and certainly its wishes are com- 
plied with to the fullest extent. The process of a 
Union victor}^ from its birth in the first telegram 
down to its dissolution in the last despatch, is curious 
enough. 

Out comes an extra of the New York Herald — 
" Glorious Union Victory off Little Bear Creek, Mo. ! 
— Five Thousand Rebels Disposed of! — Grand Ske- 
daddle !— General Pumpkin's Brilliant Charge !— He 
Out-MuratsMurat ! — SanguinaryEncounters ! — Cassius 
Mudd's Invincibles ! — Doom of the Confederacy ! — Jeff 
Davis gone to Texas ! " and so on, with a display of 



A " UNION VICTORY." 13 

large type, in double-headed lines, and a profusion of 
notes of admiration. 

There is excitement in the bar-rooms. The Demo- 
crats look down-hearted. The War Christians are 
jubilant. Fiery eyes devour the columns, which con- 
tain but an elaboration of the heading — swelled 
perhaps with a biographical sketch of Brigadier- 
General Cyrus Washington Pumpkin, "who was 
educated at West Point, where he graduated with 
Generals Beauregard and McDowell, and eventually 
subsided into pork-packing at Cincinnati, where he was 
captain of a fine company till the war broke out, when 
he tendered his sword," &c. Cassius Mudd's biography 
is of course reprinted for the twentieth time, and there 
is a list of the names of all the officers in the regiments 
near the presumed scene of action. 

Then comes the action: — "An intelligent gentleman 
has just arrived at Chicago, and has seen Dr. Bray, to 
whom he has given full particulars of the fight. It was 
commenced by Lieutenant Epaminondas Bellows ("son 
of our respected fellow-citizen, the President of the 
Bellowstown and Bellona Railway" — here follows a 
biography of Bellows), who was out scouting with ten 
more of our boys when they fell into an ambuscade, 
which opened on them with masked batteries, uttering 
unearthly yells. With Spartan courage the little band 
returned the fire, and kept the Seceshers, who were at 
least 500 strong, at bay till their ammunition was 
exhausted. Bellows, his form dilated with patriotism, 
his mellow tones ringing above the storm of battle, 
was urged to fly by a tempter, whose name we suppress. 
The heroic youth struck the cowardly traitor to the 
earth, and indignantly invited the enemy to come on. 



14 CANADA. 

They did so at last. The lieutenant, resisting desperately, 
then fell, and our men carried his body to the camp, 
to the skirts of which they were followed by the Secesh 
cavalry and four guns. Our loss was only two more — 
the enemy are calculated to have lost 85. The farmers 
at Munchausen say they were busy all day carrying 
away their dead in carts. 

" On reaching the camp, General Pumpkin thought it 
right to drive back the dastardly polluters of our 
country's flag. He disposed his troops in platoons, 
according to the celebrated disposition made by Mil- 
tiades at Marathon, covering his wings with squadrons 
of artillery in columns of sub- divisions, with a reserve 
of cavalry in echelon ; but he improved upon the idea 
by adding the combination of solid squares and skir- 
mishers in the third line, by which Alexander the 
Great decided the Battle of Granicus. 

" In this order, then, the Union troops advanced till 
they came to Little Bear Creek. Here, to their great 
astonishment, they found the enemy under General 
Jefferson Brick in person (Brick will be remembered 
by many here as the intelligent clerk in our advertise- 
ment department, but he was deeply tainted with 
Secesh sentiments, and on the unfurling of our flag 
manifested them in such a manner that we were obliged 
to dispense with his services). The infamous destroyer 
of his country's happiness had posted his men so that 
we could not see them. They were at least three to 
one — mustering some 7,000, with guns, caissons, bag- 
gage waggons, and standards in proportion — and were 
arranged in an obtuse angle, of which the smaller end 
was composed of a mass of veterans, in the order 
adopted by Napoleon with the Old Guard at Waterloo : 



THE BATTLE OF LITTLE BEAR CREEK. 15 

the larger, consisting of the Whoop-owl Bushwackers 
and the Squash River Legion in potence, threatened 
us with destruction if we advanced on the other wing, 
whilst we were equally exposed to danger if we 
remained where we were. 

" General Pumpkin's conduct is, at this most critical 
moment, generally described as being worthy of the 
best days of Roman story. He simply gave the 
word ' Charge. - ' f What, General ? ' exclaimed our 
informant. ' Charge ! Sir/ said the general, with a 
sternness which permitted no further question. With 
a yell our gallant fellows dashed at the enemy, but the 
water was too deep in the creek, and they retired with 
terrific loss. The enemy then dashed at them in turn. 
They drove our right for three miles ; we drove their 
left for three-and-a- quarter miles. Their centre drove 
our left, and our right drove their centre again. They 
took five of our guns ; we took six of theirs and a bread- 
cart. 

"Night put an end to this dreadful struggle, in 
which American troops set an example to the war- 
seamed soldiers of antiquity. Next morning General 
Pumpkin pushed across to Pugstown, and occupied it 
in force. Union sentiment is rife all through Missouri. 
We demand that General Pumpkin be at once placed 
at the head of the Army of the Potomac.''' 

Now all this — in no degree exaggerated — and the like 
of which I have read over and over again, affords infinite 
comfort or causes great depression to New York for an 
hour or so, coupled with an " editorial," in which the 
energy and enterprise of the Scarron are duly eulogised, 
old Greeley's hat and breeches and umbrella handled 
with charming wit and eloquence, and the inevitable 



16 CANADA. 

flight of the Richmond Government to Texas clearly 
demonstrated. Next day some little doubt is ex- 
pressed as to the exact locality of the fight — " Pump- 
kin's force was at Big Bear, 180 miles west of the place 
indicated. We doubt not, however, the account is 
substantially correct, and that the Secesh forces have 
been pretty badly whipped/' 

Next day the casualties are reduced from 200 killed 
and 310 wounded to 96 killed and none wounded; 
and scrutinising eyes notice a statement, in small type, 
that the u father of Lieutenant Bellows has written to 
us to state his son was not engaged on the occasion in 
question, but was at home on furlough." And by the 
time "Another Great Union Victory!" is ready, the 
fact oozes out, but is by no means considered worth a 
thought, that General Pumpkin has had an encounter 
with the Confederates in which he suffered a defeat, 
and that he has gone into winter quarters. 

I do not suppose for a moment that these deceitful 
agencies are exercised only in the North, but am per- 
suaded, from what I know, that the Southern people are 
at least as anxious for news, and as liable to be led away 
by suppressions of truth or distorted narratives, as 
those of the Free States. If we had had a telegraphic 
system and a newspaper press during the Wars of the 
Hoses, or the struggle of 1645, it is probable our parti- 
sans, on both sides, would have been as open to impos- 
ture; but I do not think they would have continued 
long in the faith that the ever-detected impostor was 
still worthy of credence. 



CHAPTER II. 

To the Station — Stars and Stripes — Crowd at Station — Train impeded 
by Snow — Classic ground — "Manhattan" — "Yonkers" — Fellow- 
travellers and their ways — "Beauties of the Hudson" — West 
Point: their education, &c. — Large Towns on the banks of the 
Hudson — Arrive at East Albany — Delavan House — Beds at a 
premium — Aspect of Albany not impressive — Sights — The Legis- 
lature. 

As we drove over the execrable snow-heaps to the 
station, the streets seemed to me unusually dreary. 
The vast Union flags which flapped in the cold air, 
now dulled and dim, showed but their great bars 
of blood, and the stars had faded out into dark- 
ness. 

Apropos of the stripes and stars, I may say I never 
could meet any one in the States able to account for 
the insignia, though it has been suggested that they 
are an amplification of the heraldic bearing of George 
Washington. Strange indeed if the family blazon of 
an English squire should have become the flaunting flag 
of the Great Republic, which with all its faults has 
done so much for the world, and may yet, purged of 
its vanity, arrogance, and aggressive tendency, do so 
much more for mankind ! Not excepting our own, 
it is the most widely-spread flag on the seas ; for 
whilst it floats by the side of the British ensign in 
every haunt of our commerce, it has almost undisputed 

o 



18 CANADA. 

possession of vast tracts of sea in the Pacific and South 
Atlantic. 

At last we got to the end of our very unpleasant 
journey, and approached the York and Albany Ter- 
minus, over an alpine concrete of snow-heaps, snow- 
holes, and street-rails. At the station my coach-driver 
affectionately seized my hand, and bade me good-bye 
with a cordiality which might have arisen from the 
sensitiveness of touch in his palm as much as from 
personal affection. The terminus was crowded with 
citizens (eating apples, lemon-drops, and gingerbread- 
nuts, and reading newspapers) and a few men in soldier's 
uniform, going north — only one or two of what one 
calls in Europe gentlemen or ladies, but all well 
dressed and well behaved, if they would only spare the 
hissing stoves and the feelings of prejudiced foreigners. 

The train, with more punctuality than we usually 
observe in such matters, started to the minute, 
but only went ten yards or so, and then halted for 
nearly half an hour — no one knew why, and no one 
seemed to care, except a gentleman who was going, he 
said, to get his friend, "the Honourable Something 
Raymond, to do something for him at Albany," and was 
rather in a hurry. When the engine renewed the 
active exercise of its powers, the pace was slow and the 
motion was jerking and uneven, owing to snow on the 
rails, and the obstacles increased as the train left the 
shelter of the low long-stretching suburb which clings 
to it, and is dragged, as it were, out of the city with it 
along the bank of the Hudson. But even 181st and 
182nd streets abandoned their attempts to keep up with 
the rail ; and all that could be seen of civilisation were 
sundry chimneys and walls and uncouth dark masses 



CLASSIC GROUND. 19 

of wood or brick rising above the snow. The lights in 
the wooden stations shone out frostily through the 
dimmed windows as we struggled on. 

We were passing through at night what is to Americans 
classic ground, in spite of odd names: for here is "Man- 
hattan" (associated in my mind for ever with a man 
who, unfortunately for himself and me, had a wooden leg, 
as he planted the iron ferule of that insensible member 
on the only weak point of my weaker foot) — and next is 
" Yonkers," where a lady once lived with whom Wash- 
ington was once in love, and several "fights" took 
place all around, in which the Americans were more 
often beaten than victorious j — " Dobb's Ferry " 
" Tarrytown " (poor Andre ! let those who wish to 
know all that can be known of the "spy" read Mr. 
Sargent's life of him, published in Philadelphia), which 
is " nigh on toe Sleepy Hollow," where Mr. Diedrich 
Knickerbocker had such a remarkable interview with 
the ancient Hollander ; — " Sing Sing," where many 
gentlemen, not so well known to fame, have interviews 
of a less agreeable character with modern American 
authorities. We are passing, too, by Sunny side, where 
Washington Irving lived. I would rather have seen 
him than all the remarkable politicians in the States — 
old Faneuil, or Bunker's Hill, or all the wonders of the 
great nation ; though I am told he was unbearably 
prosy and sleepy of late days. 

Cold and colder it becomes as we creep on, and 
slower creaks the train with its motley freight. The 
men round the stoves "fire up" till the iron glows 
and gives out the heated air to those who can stand 
it, and an unsavoury odour, as of baked second-hand 
clothing, and a hissing noise to those beyond the torrid 

c 2 



20 CANADA. 

circle. The slamming of the door never ceases. Some- 
times it is a conductor, sometimes it is not. But no 
matter who makes the disturbance, he has a right to 
do so. No one can sleep on account of that abominable 
noise, even if he could court slumber in a seat which is 
provided with a rim to hurt his back if he reclines, and 
a ridge to smite his face if he leans forward. Apples 
and water and somebody's lemon-drops are in demand ; 
and vendors of vegetable ivory furtively deposit speci- 
mens of ingenious manufacture but inscrutable purpose 
in the lap of the unoffending stranger, who in his sleepy 
state often falls a victim to these artifices, and finds 
himself called on to pay several dollars for quaint 
products of the carver, which he has unduly detained 
in his unconsciousness. 

The train arrives at Poughkeepsie, seventy -five 
miles from New York, an hour and a half late. We 
hear that, instead of reaching Albany at 10.30 or 
11 p.m., we shall not be in till 1 or 1.30 a.m., and will 
" lose communications f therefore we eat in despera- 
tion at refreshment-rooms large oysters boiled in milk 
out of small basins. In the night once more. We have 
passed West Point long since, and an enthusiastic child 
of nature, who has been pointing out to me the " beauties 
of the Hudson," which is flowing down under its mail 
of ice close to our left, has gone to sleep among the 
fire-worshippers at the stove. 

Now, the fact is, that scenery under snow is, I 
may safely affirm, very like beauty under a mask, 
or a fine figure in a waterproof blanket. The hills 
were mere snow-mounds, and the lines of all objects 
were fluffy and indistinct; and I was glad my eulogistic 
friend slept at last. West Point I longed to see ; for 



AMERICAN GENERALS. 21 

though its success in turning out great generals has as 
yet not been very remarkable, I had met too many 
excellent specimens of its handiwork in making good 
officers and pleasant gentlemen not to feel a desire to 
have purview of the institution. Had I not heard a 
live general sing " Benny Haven, ho ! w — had I not 
seen Mordecai sitting at the gate of Pelissier in vain, 
and McClellan and Delafield engaged in a geological 
inquiry on the remains of the siege of Sebastopol? 
Above all, does not West Point promise to become 
something like a military academy, in a country such as 
America is likely to be after the war ? 

It is a mistake rather common in England, and in 
Europe, to suppose that a majority, or even a minority, 
of the American generals are civilians. With very 
few exceptions indeed, they have either been some 
time at West Point, or have graduated there. In a 
country which has no established lines to mark the 
difference of classes, which nevertheless exists there as 
elsewhere, there is a positive social elevation acquired 
by any man who has graduated at West Point ; and if 
he has taken a high degree, he is regarded in his State 
as a man of mark, whose services must be secured for 
the military organisation and public service in the 
militia or volunteers. 

There is no country in the world where so many 
civilians have received their education in military 
academies without any view to a military career. 
There are of course many " generals " and " colonels " 
of States troops who have had no professional train- 
ing, but not nearly so many as might be imagined. 

But the great defect under which American officers 
laboured until this unhappy war broke out, was the 



22 CANADA. 

purely empirical and theoretical state of their know- 
ledge. They had no practical experience. The best of 
them had only such knowledge as they could have 
gleaned in the Mexican war. A man whose head was 
full of Jomini was sent off to command a detachment 
in a frontier fort, and to watch marauding Indians, for 
long years of his life, and never saw a regiment in the 
field. As to working the three arms together credit- 
ably in the field, I doubt if there is an officer in the 
whole army who could do it anything like so well as 
the Duke of Cambridge, or as an Aldershot or Curragh 
brigadier. 

It would be hard for any Englishman to be indiffe- 
rent to the advantages of military training in a country 
where every village around could have told tales of the 
helpless, hopeless blundering which characterised the 
operations of the British generals hereabouts in the 
War of Independence. Reflecting thus, too, I felt less 
inclined to wonder at the mistakes made by the 
Federals, and by the Confederates. Had the British 
generals proved more lucky and skilful, should we 
now have been passing the towns which cluster on 
the banks of the Hudson, or would " monarchy " have 
impeded the march of life, commerce, and civilisation 
out here ? 

Towns of 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, and even of 
30,000 inhabitants rise on the margin of the fine river, 
which in summer presents, I am assured, a scene of 
charming variety and animation, and in autumn is 
fringed by the most beautiful of all beautiful American 
landscapes, surcharged with the glorious colours of that 
lovely season. Through the darkness by the bright 
starlight we could see the steamboats locked fast in the 



EAST ALBANY. 23 

ice, like knights in proof, awaiting the signal to set 
them free for the charge. But, ah me ! how weary it 
was ! — how horrible the stoves ! At last and at last 
the train stopped, and finally deposited us at three 
o' clock in the morning on the left bank of the Hudson, 
at East Albany. 

The city proper lies on the opposite shore of the 
river ; and I got, as I was directed, into a long low box 
called the omnibus, which w r as soon crowded with pas- 
sengers. In a few minutes we were off. Then I was 
made aware that the ; bus was a sleigh, and that it was 

on runners and Just at that moment the 

machine made a headlong plunge, like a ship going 
down by the bows at sea, and in an instant more 
had pierced the depths of darkness, and with a crash- 
ing scrunching bump touched the bottom. " We're on 
the river now, I guess," quoth one. And so it was. 
We had shot down the bank, which must be higher 
than one would like to leap, even on snow, and were 
now rolling, squeaking, and jerking over the frozen 
river, amid the groans and shrieks and grumbling pro- 
tests of the ice, which seemed in some places to give way 
as if it were going to let us down bodily, and in others 
to rise up in strong ridges to baffle the horses' efforts. 
Then, after a most disagreeable drive, which seemed half- 
an-hour long — and about thrice as long as it really was, I 
suppose — a prodigious effort of horse muscle and whip- 
ping, and of manual labour, accomplished the ascent of 
the other bank, and the vehicle passed through the 
deserted streets of Albany — the capital of the great 
State of New York — to the Delavan House, which was 
open to receive but not to entertain us. A rush of 
citizens was made to "the office" of the hotel. More 



24 CANADA. 

citizens followed out of fast-arriving vehicles from the 
train — for there was no means of getting on till the fore- 
noon — and all went perforce to the Delavan House. 

The hotel office consisted of a counter with a raised 
desk, enclosing a man with a gold chain, a diamond stuck 
in the front of a dress shirt — not as pin to a scarf or as a 
stud, but as a diamond per se, after the fashion of those 
people and of railway conductors in the land — his hat 
cocked over one eye, a toothpick even at that hour in 
his mouth, a black dress suit of clothes, a dyed 
moustache and beard a la Rowdy Americain, and an 
air of sovereign contempt for his customers. The 
crowd pressed around and hurled volleys of questions — 
" Can we have beds, sir? " &c. But the man of Delavan 
House replied not. To all their entreaties he returned 
not a word. But he did take out a great book and 
spread it on the counter, and putting a pen in the ink 
he handed it to the citizen nearest, who signed himself 
and his State, and asked meekly " if he could have a 
bed at once, as he was so " &c. To him the man of 
Delavan House deigned no reply. The pen was handed 
to another, who signed, and so on — the arbiter of our 
destinies watching each inscription with the air of an 
attorney's clerk who takes signatures to an attestation. 

There were at least fifty people to sign before me, and 
I heard from a waiter there were only ten beds— which 
on the most ample allowance would only accommodate 
some thirty people — vacant. Were the Britishers to 
be beaten ? Never ! Leaving our luggage, we dashed 
out into the snow. And lo ! a house nigh at hand, 
with lights and open doors. A black waiter sallied 
out at the tramp of feet in the hall. He told us, " De 
rooms all tuk, sar." He was told to be less indiscreet 



THE STATE CAPITOL. 25 

in his assertions, and all the time of colloquy the 
invading Celts and Saxons pushed onwards and up- 
wards to the first landing. Here were doors stand- 
ing open. We entered one. Three small rooms — 
beds empty ! no luggage ! This will do. " Massa, dis 

room's all " " You be quiet ! " And the luggage 

was dragged over by our own right hands, eventually 
aided by the Ethiop. 

I had the satisfaction, as I was gliding away with 
my hat-box, to hear the man of Delavan House reading 
the book of fate, and selecting his victims at his grim 
pleasure. In fact, the house on which we had stum- 
bled was a sort of succursal to the hotel ; and the 
proprietor, afraid of offending so mighty a potentate, 
was shocked at the idea of letting in any one without 
his leave. What became of the victims I know not, 
but I do know that the beds — though we went to 
them supperless — of the humble hostelry were very 
grateful. 

I went to bed about 4 a.m., with the fixed inten- 
tion of getting up early and visiting the capitol, when 
I could have seen with these eyes the glories of the 
Hon. — Raymond as Speaker in the State Hall, and 
have heard something more of the interesting proceedings 
against a New York alderman, who accused senators 
and representatives of being accessible as Danae to the 
golden shower, and even to greenbacks. 

No man can see the real merits of a city in snow. I 
shall repeat the remark no more; therefore if I say I don't 
like a place, let the snow bear the blame : but Albany 
did not impress me when I did get up, and the sight 
of the State Capitol at the top of a steep street was so 
utterly depressing, that I abandoned my resolve, and 



26 CANADA. 

sought less classic ground. What have not these 
Greeks to answer for in this new land ? 

There was a comforting contrast to the hideous domes 
and mock porticoes, and generally to the ugliness of 
the public buildings, in the solid unpretentious look of 
the old Dutch-built houses of private citizens. Though 
there is an aspect of decadence about Albany, it seems 
more, far more respectable and gentlemanly than its 
smug, smirking, meretricious but overwhelming rival, 
New York. 

I was informed by an American that it was called 
after the second name in the title of James the Second, 
before he ascended the throne. " Bad as the Stuarts 
were to you, they were a great deal better for the 
colonies," said he, " than your Hanover House, and 
perhaps if you hadn't changed them you might not 
have lost us." It was curious to hear an American 
saying a good word for the luckless house, though I 
am by no means of the opinion that England could 
ever have ruled colonies which were saturated with the 
principles of self-government. 

It was too cold at such a season as this for philo- 
sophical research in a sleigh, and too slippery for 
sauntering; and we were whirled out of the State 
capital without seeing much of it, except church 
steeples, and some decent streets, and the ice-bound 
river studded with hard-set steamers. 

There are, however, in summer time, as I hear, 
and can well imagine, many fine sights to be seen. 
There is the Fall of Cohoes, where the Mohawk River, a 
stream of greater body than the Thames at Richmond, 
leaps full seventy feet down into a gulf, whence it col- 
lects itself to pursue its course to the Hudson. There 



THE LEGISLATURE. 27 

are Shaker settlements, and many communities of 
"isms" and astounding congregations of "ists;" and 
there are clean Dutch streets, and Dutch tenures and 
customs to this day. With the tenures, however, the 
rule of the majority has made rough work; and the 
lords in capite, or padroons, have suffered pauperisation 
by the simple process of nonpayment of their rents. 

The Legislature is now in solemn conclave. They are 
investigating charges implied in the speech of a New 
York alderman, who declared he could get any measure 
passed he liked, by paying the members — of course 
extra- officially, because the payment, per se, could 
only be an agreeable addition to their income. The 
Speaker is Mr Raymond, of the New Yo?'k Times, who, 
in spite of or perhaps in consequence of the opposition 
of the Caledonian Cleon, his rival, was elected to that 
high office. It was in course of conversation with an 
American gentleman respecting the election, that I 
learned there was no more certain way of succeeding 
in any contest in the State, than to obtain the abuse 
of the organ under that person's control. Be it 
senator, mayor, or common-councilman, the candidate 
he favours is lost, for all respectable people instinctively 
vote against him. 



CHAPTER III. 

Unpleasant journey to Niagara— Mr. Seward— The Union and its 
dangers— Pass Buffalo— Arrival at Niagara— A. 'Touter'— Bad 
weather — The Road — Climate compared— Desolate appearance of 
houses — The St. Lawrence viewed from above — One hundred 
years ago — Canada the great object of the Americans — The 
Welland Canal— Effect of the Falls from a distance— Gradual 
approach — Less volume of water in winter — Different effect and 
dangers in winter — Icicles— Behind the Cataract— Photographs 
and Bazaar — Visit the "Lions" generally — Brock — American and 
Canadian sides contrasted — Goat Island— A whisper heard — Mills 
and Manufactories. 

It was past noon ere the train once more began its 
contest with the snow — now conquering, now stubbornly 
resisted, and brought to a standstill : — the pace ex- 
ceedingly slow, the scenery that of undulating white 
tablecloths, the society dull. 

The journey to Niagara was as unpleasant as very 
bad travelling and absence of anything to see could 
make it. The train contained many soldiers or volun- 
teers going back to their people, who discussed the 
conduct of the war with earnestness and acuteness ; 
but though we were so far north, I could not hear any 
of them very anxious about the negro. 

Well-dressed men and women got in and out at all the 
stations, nor did I see persons in the whole line of the 
cars who seemed to have rubbed elbows with adversity. 
Shenectady ! Utica ! Syracuse ! Auburn ! Here be 



MR. SEWARD. 29 

comminglings ! — the Indian, the Phceno-Numidian, 
the Greek- Sicilian, the Anglo-Irish, all reviving here 
in fair towns, full of wealth, commerce, and life. 

The last-named is, I believe, the birthplace, and is 
certainly what auctioneers call the residential abode, of 
Mr. Seward. I remember his Excellency relating 
how, after the Battle of Bull Bun — when he was 
threatened by certain people from Baltimore with 
hanging, as the reward of his misdeeds in plunging 
the country into civil war — he resolved to visit his 
fellow-citizens and neighbours, to ascertain whether 
there was any change of feeling amongst them. He 
was received with every demonstration of kindness and 
respect, and then, said he, " I felt my head was quite 
safe on my shoulders." It is but just to say, Mr. 
Seward altogether disclaims the intention of seizing on 
Canada, which has been attributed to him in England ; 
although he certainly is of opinion, that the province 
cannot continue long to be a dependency of the 
English Crown. How long does he think California 
will be content to receive orders from a government 
at Washington ? 

The danger which menaces the Union will become 
far greater after the success of the Unionists than 
it was during the war, because the extinction of 
the principle of States Rights will naturally tend to 
centralise the power of the Federal Government. They 
cannot restore that which they have pulled down. 
In virtue of their own principles, they must maintain 
a strict watch and supreme control over the State 
Governments and Legislatures. Endless disputes and 
jealousies w T ill arise. The Democrats, at once the 
wealthiest and the ablest party in each State, will take 



30 CANADA. 

every opportunity of opposing the centralised Govern- 
ment ; and although the Republicans may raise armies 
to fight for the Union, they will not be able to prevent 
the slow and certain action of the State Legislatures, 
which will tend to detach the States more and more 
from any federation in which their interests are not 
engaged, and to form them into groups, bound together 
by community of commerce, manufacture, feeling, and 
destiny. 

Canada must of course accept its fate with the rest ; 
but Englishmen, at least, will not yield it to the 
menaces or violence of the Northern Americans, as 
long as the people of the province prefer being our 
fellow- subjects to an incorporation in the Great Re- 
public, or any section of it that may be desirous of the 
abstraction. 

I fear we mostly look at Mr. Seward's conduct 
and language from a point which causes erroneous 
inferences. It should be remembered that he is an 
American minister — that he has not only the interests 
but the passions and prejudices of the American people 
to consult, and that, like Lord Palmerston, he is not 
the minister of any country but his own. His son, 
the Under-secretary of State, is the proprietor and 
editor of a journal here, which is conducted with the 
moderation and tact to be expected from the amiable 
character of the gentleman alluded to. 

There was little to be seen of the towns at which we 
halted, and our journey was continued from one to the 
other monotonously enough. The weary creeping of 
the train, the foul atmosphere, the delays, however 
inevitable and unavoidable, rather spoiled one's interest 
in the black smoky-looking cities on the white plains 



A NIAGARA TOUTER. 31 

through -which we passed; and night found us still 
i( scrooging on, 33 and occasionally stopping and digging 
out. Thus we passed by Rochester and the Genessee 
Falls, which seem extensively used up in mill-working, 
and arrived at Buffalo (278 miles) a little before mid- 
night. There we branched off to Niagara, which is 22 
miles further on. 

Up to this time we had been minded to go to the 
Clifton House, which is on the Canadian side of the 
river, though it is kept by Americans, and of which 
we had agreeable memories in the summer, when it 
was the headquarters of many pleasant Southerners. 
There were only three or four men in our car, one of 
whom was, even under such hopeless circumstances, 
doing a little touting for an hotel at the American side. 
After a while he threw a fly over us and landed the 
whole basket. All the large hotels, he said, were shut 
up on both sides of the Falls, but he could take us to 
a very nice quiet and comfortable place, where we 
would meet with every attention, and it was the only 
house we would find open. This exposition left us no 
choice. 

We surrendered ourselves therefore to the tout, who 
was a very different being from the type of his class in 
England : a tall, pleasant-faced man, with a keen eye 
and bronzed face, ending in an American Vandyke 
beard, a fur collar round his neck, a heavy travelling 
coat — from which peered out the ruffles of a white 
shirt and a glittering watch-chain — rings on his fingers, 
and unexceptionable shoeing. He smoked his cigar 
with an air, and talked as if he were conferring a 
favour. " And I tell you what ! Fll show you all 
over the Falls to-morrow. Yes, sir ! " Why, we were 



32 CANADA. 

under eternal obligations to such a guide, and inter- 
nally thanking our stars for the treasure-trove at once 
accepted him. 

At the gloomy deserted station we were now shot 
out, on a sheet of slippery deep snow, an hour after 
midnight. We followed our guide to an hostelry of 
the humbler sort, where the attention was not at 
first very marked or the comfort at all decided. The 
night was very dark, and a thaw had set in under the 
influence of a warm rain. The thunder of the Falls 
could not be heard through the thick air, but when we 
were in the house a quiet little quivering rattle of the 
window-panes spoke of its influence. The bar-room 
was closed — in the tawdry foul-odoured eating-room 
swung a feeble lamp : it was quite unreasonable to 
suppose any one could be hungry at such an hour, and 
we went to bed with the nourishment supplied by an 
anticipation of feasting on scenery. All through the 
night the door and window-frames kept up the drum- 
like roll to the grand music far away. 

We woke up early. What evil fortune ! Rain ! fog ! 
thaw ! — the snow melting fast in the dark air. But 
were we not "bound" to see the Falls? So after 
breakfast, and ample supplies of coarse food, we started 
in a vehicle driven by the trapper of the night before. 
He turned out to be a very intelligent, shrewd 
American, who had knocked about a good deal in the 
States, and knew men and manners in a larger field 
than Ulysses ever wandered over. 

The aspect of the American city in winter time 
is decidedly quite the reverse of attractive, but there 
was a far larger fixed population than we expected 
to have seen, and the fame of our arrival had gone 



THE NEGROES AND THE IRISH. 33 

abroad, so that there was a small assemblage round 
the stove in the bar-room and in the passage to see 
us start. I don't mean to see us in particular, but 
to stare at any three strangers who turned up so sus- 
piciously and unexpectedly at this season. The walls 
of the room in the hotel were covered with placards, 
offering large bounties and liberal inducements to 
recruits for the local regiment of volunteers; and I 
was told that a great number of men had gone for the 
war after the season had concluded — but Abolition is 
by no means popular in Niagara. 

It was resolved that we should drive round to the 
British side by the Suspension Bridge, a couple of miles 
below, as the best way of inducting my companions 
into the wonders of the Falls ; and I prepared myself 
for a great surprise in the difference between the 
character of the scene in winter and in summer. 

For some time the road runs on a low level below 
the river bank, and does not permit of a sight of the 
cataract. The wooden huts of the Irish squatters 
looked more squalid and miserable than they were 
when I saw them last year — wonderful combinations 
of old plank, tarpaulin, tinplate, and stove pipes. 
" It's wonderful the settlement doesn't catch fire ! " 
"But it does catch fire. It's burned down often 
enough. Nobody cares : and the Irish grin, and build 
it up again, and beat a few of the niggers, whom they 
accuse of having blazed 'em up. They've a purty hard 
time of it now, I think." 

There are too many free negroes and too many 
Irish located in the immediate neighbourhood of 
the American town, to cause the doctrines of the 
Abolitionists to be received with much favour by 



34 CANADA. 

the American population ; and the Irish of course 
are opposed to free negroes, where they are attracted 
by papermills, hotel service, bricklaying', plastering, 
housebuilding, and the like — the Americans mono- 
polising the higher branches of labour and money- 
making, including the guide business. 

At a bend in the road we caught a glimpse of the 
Falls, and I was concerned to observe they appeared 
diminished in form, in beauty, and in effect. The 
cataract appeared of an ochreish hue, like bog-water, as 
patches of it came into sight through breaks in the 
thick screen of trees which line the banks. The effect 
was. partly due to the rain, perhaps, but was cer- 
tainly developed by the white setting of snow through 
which it rushed. The expression on my friends' faces 
indicated that they considered Niagara an imposition. 
" The Falls are like one of our great statesmen," 
quoth the guide, "just now. There's nothing par- 
ticular about them when you first catch a view of 
them ; but when you get close and know them better, 
then the power comes out, and you feel small as 
potatoes." 

As we splashed on through the snow, I began to 
consider the disadvantages to which the poor emigrant 
who chooses a land exposed to the rigours of a six 
months' winter, must be exposed ; and I wondered in 
myself that the early settlers did not fly, if they had a 
chance, when they first experienced the effects of bitter 
cold. But I recollected how much better were soil, 
climate, and communications than they are in the 
sunny South, where, for seven months, the heat is far 
more intolerable than the cold of Canada — where the 
fever revels, where noxious reptiles and insects vex 



THE ST. LAWRENCE. 33 

human life, and the blood is poisoned by malaria, and 
where wheat refuses to grow, and bread is a foreign 
product. 

Even in Illinois the winter is, as a rule, as severe as it 
is in Canada, the heat as great in summer — water is 
scarce, roads bad. It is better to be a dweller on the 
banks of the St. Lawrence than a resident in the 
Valley of the Mississippi, even if a tithe of its fabled 
future should ever come to pass. There is no reason 
why the Canadas should be regarded with less favour 
than the Western States, although the winters are long 
enough : in the prairie there is a want of wholesome 
water in summer, and a scarcity of fuel for cold weather, 
which tend to restore the balance in favour of the 
provinces/ 

The country, which I remembered so riant and rich, 
now was cold and desolate. At the station, near the 
beautiful Suspension Bridge — which one cannot praise 
too much, and which I hope may last for ever, though 
it does not look like it — the houses had closed windows, 
and half of them seemed empty, but the German 
proprietors no doubt could have been found in the 
lagerbeer saloons and billiard-rooms. The toll-takers 
and revenue officers on the bridge showed the usual 
apathy of their genus. No novelty moves them. Had 
the King of Oude appeared with all his court on 
elephants, they would have merely been puzzled how to 
assess the animals. They were not in the least discon- 
certed at a group of travellers visiting the St. Lawrence 
in winter time. 

The sight of the St. Lawrence as we crossed over, 
roaring and foaming more than a hundred feet below us, 
and rushing between the precipitous banks on which 

D 2 



30 CANADA. 

the bridge rests, gave one a sort of "frisson :" it looked 
like some stream of the Inferno — the waters, black and 
cold, lashed into pyramids of white foam, and seeming 
by their very violence to impede their own escape. Some 
distance below the bridge, indeed, they rise up in a visible 
ridge, crested with high plumes of tossing spray; but 
it is related as a fact that the steamer " Maid of the 
Mist/' which was wont to ply as a ferry-boat below the 
Ealls, was let down this awful sluice by a daring captain, 
who sought to save her from the grip of certain legal 
functionaries, and that she got through with the loss of 
her chimney, after a fierce contest with the waters, in 
which she was whirled round and buffeted almost to 
foundering. At that moment the men on board would 
no doubt have surrendered to the feeblest of bailiffs for 
the chance of smooth water. 

About one hundred years ago, the spot where Ave 
now stood was the scene of continual struggles between 
the Red man, still strong enough to strike a blow 
for his heritage, and the British. It was on the 14th 
September, 1764, that the Indians routed a detach - 
jnent at Niagara, and killed and wounded upwards 
of two hundred men ; and their organisation seemed 
so formidable that Amherst was glad to make a treaty 
with the tribes through the instrumentality of Sir W. 
Johnston. The colonists then left on us the. main 
burden of any difficulty arising from their great 
cupidity and indifference to the rights of the natives. 
In ten years afterwards they were engaged in pre- 
paring for the grand revolt which gave birth to the 
United States and to the greatest development of self- 
government ever seen in the world. 

As they were setting about the work of wresting 



OUR COLONIES. 37 

the New World from the grasp of the monarchical 
system, Cook was exploring the shores of the other 
vast continent in the Southern Sea, where the spirit 
of British institutions, with the widest extension of 
constitutional liberty, may yet successfully vindicate 
the attachment of a great Anglo-Saxon race to the 
Crown. 

There are many in America who think the colonies 
would never have revolted if the French had retained 
possession of Canada, and, indeed, it is likely enough 
the Anglo-Saxons would have held to the connection if 
the Latin race had been sitting upon them north- 
wards; but the political accidents and the military 
results which expelled the fleur-de-lys from Canada, 
doubtless created an unnatural bond of union between 
the absolutist Court of St. Germains and the pre- 
cursors of Anacharsis Clootz in the colonies. To the 
seer there might have been something ominous in the 
coalition. 

The men who were battling for the divine right of 
kings in Europe could scarce fight for the divine right 
of man in America without danger. The kiss which 
was imprinted at Versailles on Franklin's cheek, by 
the lips of a royal lady, must have had the smack of 
the guillotine in it. 

Anyway, we must allow, the French - Canadians, 
who stood by us shoulder to shoulder and beat back 
the American battalions, whose power to invade was 
mainly derived from foreign support, showed they had 
a surprising instinct for true liberty. No doubt they 
would have fought at least as stoutly, had the arro- 
gant colonists been aided by red-coats, for the sake of 
the white banner and the fleur-de-lys ; but in the time 



38 CANADA. 

of trouble and danger they stood loyally by the Crown 
and coDnection of England, and their services in that 
day should not be lightly forgotten. 

It is above all things noteworthy, perhaps, that the 
Americans in all their wars with the mother-country 
have sought to strike swift hard blows in Canada, and 
that hitherto, with every advantage and after con- 
siderable successes, they have been driven, weather- 
beaten back, and bootless home. It was actually on 
the land shaken by the roar of these falling floods 
that battles have been fought, and that the air has 
listened in doubt to the voice of cannon mingling with 
the eternal chorus of the cataract. 

There are here two points at which Canada lies open 
to the invader. The first lies above the Rapids — the 
latter is below them, where the St. Lawrence flows 
into the lake. Three considerable actions and various 
small engagements have taken place on the Canadian 
side of the river, all of which were characterised by 
great obstinacy and much bloodshed. Let us con- 
sider them, and see what can or ought to be done in 
order to guard the tempting bank which offers such 
an excellent base of operations for future hostile 
occupation. 

An inspection of the map will show the Welland 
Canal, running from Port Maitland, Dunnville, and 
Port Colborne, on Lake Erie, to Lake Ontario at Port 
Dalhousie. The command of this canal would be of 
the very greatest importance to an invading army, as 
it would establish a communication inside the Falls of 
Niagara ; but it would be very difficult to obtain such 
a command so as to prevent the destruction of the 
canal in case of necessity. It is obvious, however, that 



DEFENCE OF NIAGARA. 39 

the line of it should be defended, and that garrisons 
should be stationed to hold points inside the line, such 
as Erie and Chippewa, to render it unsafe for the 
enemy to move down inside them. At Fort Erie there 
is a very insignificant work, but, with that exception, 
the line of the Welland Canal may be considered as 
perfectly open and defenceless — not by any means as 
utterly indefensible. 

The river is not broad enough to prevent the dwellers 
on the banks from indulging in hostilities if they 
pleased ; but no practical advantage would be 
gained in a campaign by any operation which did not 
settle the fate of the Welland Canal. The locks will 
permit vessels 142 feet long, with. 26 feet beam, and 
drawing 10 feet of water, to pass between Erie and 
Ontario ; and from the latter lake to the sea, or vice 
versa, they can pass by the St. Lawrence Canal, draw- 
ing one foot less water. It would be above all things 
important to prevent an enemy getting possession of 
this Welland Canal. It would not suffice for us to de- 
stroy it by injuring a lock or the like, as such an act 
would militate against our own lines of communication, 
— more important to us, who have an inferior power of 
transport on the lakes, than it would be to the Americans. 

In addition to a well-devised system of field-works, it 
is desirable that permanent fortifications should be con- 
structed to cover the termini of the canal and the feeder 
above Port Maitland. At present, the defensive means 
of Fort Erie, at the entrance of the river above the 
Rapids, are very poor, and quite inadequate to resist 
modern artillery. However, this subject will be best 
discussed when I come to speak of the general defence 
of Canada. 



40 CANADA. 

This yawning gap is barrier enough between the two 
countries should they ever, unhappily, become belli- 
gerent, but the banks can be commanded by either; 
and in case of war the bridge would no doubt be sacri- 
ficed by one or other, as well as the grander structure 
at Montreal would be, without some special covenant. 

When still a mile and a half away, a whirling pillar of a 
leaden gray colour, with wreaths of a lighter silvery hue 
playing round it, which rose to the height of several 
hundred feet in the air, indicated the position of the 
Palls. The vapour was more solid and gloomy-looking 
than the cloudlike mantle which shrouds the cataract 
oftentimes in the summer. I doubt if there is a very 
satisfactory solution of its existence at all. Of course 
the cloud is caused by particles of water thrown up 
into the atmosphere by the violent impact of the water 
on the surface, and by the spray thrown off in the 
descent of the torrent ; but why those particles remain 
floating about, instead of falling at once like rain, is 
beyond my poor comprehension. Sure enough, a cer- 
tain portion does descend like a thick Scotch mist : 
why not all ? As one of my companions, with much 
gravity and an air of profound wisdom, remarked last 
summer, "It's probable electricity has something to 
do with it ! " Can any one say more ? 

Assuredly, this ever-rolling mighty cloud draping 
and overhanging the Falls adds much to their weird 
and wonderful beauty. Its variety of form is infinite, 
changing with every current of air, and altering from 
day to day in height and volume ; but I never looked 
at it without fancying I could trace in the outlines the 
indistinct shape of a woman, with flowing hair and 
drooping arms, veiled in drapery — now crouching on 



AT THE FALLS. 41 

the very surface of the flood, again towering along and 
tossing up her hands to heaven, or sinking down and 
bending low to the edge of the cataract as though to 
drink its waters. With the aid of an active fancy, 
one might deem it to be the guardian spirit of the 
wondrous place. 

The wind was unfavourable, and the noise of the 
cataract was not heard in all its majestic violence ; 
but as we came nearer, we looked at each other and 
said nothing. It grew on us like the tumult of an 
approaching battle. 

There is this in the noise of the Falls : produced by 
a monotonous and invariable cause, it nevertheless 
varies incessantly in tone and expression. As you listen, 
the thunder peals loudly, then dies away into a hoarse 
grumble, rolls on again as if swelled by minor storms, 
clangs in the ear, and after a while, like a river of 
sound welling over and irrepressible, drowns the sense 
in one vast rush of inexpressible grandeur — then melts 
away till you are almost startled at the silence aud look 
up to see the Falls, like a green mountain- side streaked 
with fresh snowdrifts, slide and shimmer over the 
precipice. 

It may well be conceived with what awe and super- 
stitious dread honest Jesuit Hennepin, following his 
Indian guides through the gloom of the forest primaeval, 
gazed on the dreadful flood, which had then no garniture 
of trimmed banks, clearedfields, snug hotels, and cockney 
gazabos to alleviate the natural terror with which man 
must gaze on a spectacle which conjures up such solemn 
images of death, time, and eternity. 

No words can describe the Falls ; and Church's pic- 
ture, very truthful and wonderful as to form, cannot 



42 CANADA. 

convey an idea of the life of the scene — of the motion 
and noise and shifting colour -which abound there in 
sky and water. I doubt, indeed, if any man can de- 
scribe his own sensations very accurately, for they 
undergo constant change ; and for my own part I 
would say that the effect increases daily, and that one 
leaves the scene with more vivid impressions of its 
grandeur and beauty than is produced by the first 
coup-d'ceil. 

A gradual approach does not at all diminish the 
power of the cataract, and the mind is rather unduly 
excited by the aspect of the Styx-like flood — black, 
foam-crested, and of great volume, with every indica- 
tion of profound depth — which hurries on so swiftly and 
so furiously below the road on which you are travelling, 
between banks cut down through grim, dark rock, 
so sheer that the tops of the upper trees which take 
root in the strata can be nearly touched by the 
traveller's stick. The idea that the whole of the great 
river beneath you has just leaped over a barrier of rock 
prepares one's conception for the greatness of the 
cataract itself. 

In summer time there were wild ducks flying 
about, and terns darted up and down the stream. 
Now it was deserted and desolate, looking of more 
inky hue in contrast with the snow. Close to the 
boiling cataract the fishermen's tiny barks might then 
be seen rocking up and down, or the angler sought 
the bass which loves those turbulent depths ; but no 
such signs of human life and industry are visible in 
winter. 

Before Niagara was, odd creatures enough lived about 
here, which can now be detected fossilised in the 



THE FALLS IN WINTER. 43 

magnesian limestone. How many myriads of years it 
has been eating away its dear heart and gnawing the 
rock let Sir Charles Lyell or Sir Roderick Murchison 
calculate ; but I am persuaded that since I saw it some 
months ago there has been a change in the aspect of 
the Horseshoe Fall, and that it has become more deeply 
curved. The residents, however, though admitting the 
occurrence of changes, say they are very slow, and that 
no very rapid alteration has taken place since the fall 
of a great part of Table Rock some years ago : but 
masses of stone may be washed away every day without 
their knowing it. 

One very natural consequence of a visit in the 
winter was undeniable — that the Falls were visibly 
less : they did not extend so far, and they rolled with 
diminished volume. The water did not look so pure, 
and incredible icicles and hanging glaciers obscured the 
outlines of the rocks and even intruded on the water- 
course; whilst the trees above, laden with snow, stood 
up like inverted icicles again, and rendered it difficult 
to define the boundary between earth, air, and water. 

A noiseless drive brought us to the village. Clifton 
House was deserted — the windows closed, the doors 
fastened. No gay groups disported on the pro- 
menade; but the bird-stuffer's, the Jew's museum, 
the photographer's shed, the Prince's triumphal arch, 
were still extant; and the bazaars, where they sell 
views, seashells, Indian beadwork and feathers, mocca- 
sins, stuffed birds, and the like, were open and anxious 
for customers. Our party was a godsend; but the 
worthy Israelite, who has collected such an odd 
museum here — one, under all the circumstances, most 
creditable to his industry and perseverance as well as 



44 CANADA. 

liberality — said that travellers came pretty often in 
fine winter weather to look at the cataract. We 
walked in our moccasins to the Table Rock, and thence 
to the verge of the Falls, and gazed in silence on the 
struggling fury of the terrible Rapids, which seem as if 
they wrestled with each other like strong men con- 
tending against death, and fighting to the last till the 
fatal leap must be made. 

The hateful little wooden staircases, which like black 
slugs crawl up the precipice from the foot of the Falls, 
caught the eyes of my companions; and when they 
were informed that they could go down in safety and get 
some way behind the Fall itself, the place was invested 
with a new charm, and ice, rheumatism, and the like, 
were set at defiance. I knew what it was in summer, 
and the winter journey did not seem very tempting; 
but there was no alternative, and the party returned 
to the museum to prepare for the descent. 

Whilst we were waiting for our waterproof dresses to 
go under the Falls, we had an opportunity of surveying 
the changes produced by winter, and I was the more 
persuaded that the effect is not so favourable as that of 
summer. The islands are covered with snow — that which 
divides the sweep of the cataract looking unusually large; 
the volume of water, diminished in the front, is also de- 
prived of much of its impressive force by a decrease in 
the sound produced by its fall. The edges of the bank, 
covered with glistening slabs of ice, were not tempting 
to the foot, and could not be approached with the 
confidence with which they are trod by one of steady 
nerves when the actual brink is visible. 

There were some peculiarities, however, worthy of 
note; and in a brighter day, possibly the effect of the 



INSIDE THE FALLS. 45 

light on the vast ranges of icicles, and on the fantastic 
shapes into which the snow is cnt on the rocks at the 
margin of the waters, might be very beautiful. These 
rocks now looked like a flock of polar bears, twined in 
fantastic attitudes, or extended singly and in groups by 
the brink as if watching for their prey. Above them 
rose the bank, now smooth and polished, with a fringe 
of icicles — some large as church steeples ; above them, 
again, the lines of the pine-trees, draped in white, and 
looking like church steeples too. At one side, near Table 
Rock, the icicles were enormous, and now and then one 
fell with a hissing noise, and was dashed on the rock 
into a thousand gliding ice arrows, or plunged into the 
gulf. 

By this time our toilette-room was ready, and each 
man, taking off his overcoat, was encased in a tarpaulin 
suit with a sou-wester. In this guise we descended 
the spiral staircase, which is carried in a perpendicular 
wooden column down the face of the bank near 
Table Rock, or what remains of it, to the rugged 
margin, formed of boulders now more slippery than 
glass. 

Our guide, a strapping specimen of negro or mulatto, 
in thick solid ungainly boots, planted his splay feet 
on them with certainty, and led us by the treacherous 
path down towards the verge of the torrent, which 
now seemed as though it were rushing from the very 
heavens. On our left boiled the dreadful caldron from 
which the gushing bubbles, as if overjoyed to escape, 
leaped up, and with glad effervescence rushed from the 
abyss which plummet never sounded. On our right 
towered the sheer precipice of rock, now overhanging 
us, and garnished with rows of giant teeth-like icicles. 



46 CANADA. 

After a slow cautious advance along this doubtful path, 
we perceived that the thin edge of the cataract towards 
which we were advancing shot out from the rock, and 
left a space between its inner surface and a black shining 
wall which it was quite possible to enter. There was no 
wind, the day was dull and raw, but the downright rush 
of the water created a whirling current of air close to 
it which almost whisked away the breath j and a vapour 
of snow, fine sleet, and watery particles careered round 
the entrance to the recess, which no water kelpie would 
be venturesome or lonesome enough to select, except 
in the height of the season. 

On we thus went, more and more slowly and 
cautiously, over the polished ice and rock, till at last 
we had fairly got behind the cataract, and enjoyed 
the pleasure of seeing the solid wall of water falling, 
falling, falling, with the grand monotony of eternity, 
so nigh that one fancied he could almost touch it with 
his hand. When last I was here, it was possible 
to have got as far as a ledge called Termination 
Rock ; but the ice had accumulated to such an extent 
that the guide declared the attempt to do so would 
be impracticable or dangerous, and indeed where we 
stood was not particularly safe at the moment. As I was 
■ in the cave, gazing at the downpoured ruin of waters 
with a sense of security as great as that of a trout in a 
mill-race, an icicle from the cliff above cracked on the 
rocks outside, and threw its fragments inside the passage. 
I own the desire I had to get on still further and pierce 
in behind the cataract, where its volume was denser, was 
greater than the gratification I derived from getting so 
far. But we had reached our ultima thule, and, with 
many a lingering look, retraced our steps — now and 



PHOTOGRAPHS AND BAZAAR. 47 

then halting to contend the better with the gusts from 
the falls, which threaten to sweep one from the ledge. 
If the foot once slipped, I cannot conceive a death 
more rapid : life would die out with the thought, " I 
am in the abyss ! " ere a cry could escape. 

Whilst returning, another icicle fell near at hand ; 
therefore it is my humble opinion that going to Ter- 
mination Rock in winter is not safe except in hard 
frost, the safer plan being not to go at all. And yet no 
one has ever been swept or has slipped in, I believe, and 
so there is a new sensation to be had very easily. The 
path on our return seemed worse than it was on our 
going — a very small slippery ridge indeed between us 
and the gulf; but danger there can be but little. As 
we emerged from the wooden pillar we submitted to 
a photographer for our portraits in waterproof. 

Poor man ! In summer he has a harvest, perhaps ; 
in winter he gleans his corn with toil and sorrow, 
making scenes for stereoscopes. I am not aware that we 
omitted anything proper to be done ; for we purchased 
feather fans — the griffs did — and beadwork and other 
"mementoes of the Falls," which are certainly not 
selected for any apposite quality. As if the Falls 
needed a bunch of feathers and beads to keep them in 
remembrance ! Well, many a time has a lock of hair, 
a withered flower, the feeblest little atom of substantial 
matter, been given as memento ere now, and done its 
office well. 

As I passed by Clifton House on my return to the 
American side, I observed a solitary figure in a blue 
overcoat and brass buttons, pacing rapidly up and down 
under cover of the verandah. Who on earth could it be ? 
It can't be — yes it is — it is, indeed, our excellent guardian 



48 CANADA. 

of British customs rights and revenues — good Mr. . 

The kindly old Scotchman stares in surprise when he 
hears his name from an unknown passer-by, but in a 
moment he remembers our brief acquaintance in sum- 
mer time. Every one who knows him would, I am sure, 
be glad, with me, to hear that some better post were 

got for Mr. in his old age than that of watching 

smugglers on the waters of the St. Lawrence, below 
Niagara. 

After a brief interview, we proceeded on our way, and 
continued our explorations. Due honour was paid to 
the Rapids, Bath Island, Goat Island, the Cave of the 
Winds, Prospect Tower, and all the water lions of the 
place, though rain and sleet fell at intervals all the 
time when there was no snow. 

"When the Prince was here he laid the last stone of the 
obelisk which marks the place where Brock was killed, in 
the successful action against the Americaus at Queens- 
town in 1812. The present monument to that general is 
certainly in as good taste as most British designs of the 
sort, and seems but little open to the censure I have 
heard directed against it. Its predecessor was so atro- 
ciously bad, that some gentleman of fine feelings in art, 
who was probably an American and a Canadian patriot 
as well, blew it up some years ago. 

There are not wanting at the present time many 
men in Canada of the same stuff as Brock and his men. 
It is astonishing to find the easy and universal con- 
viction prevailing in the minds of Americans, contrary 
to their experience, that the conquest of Canada would 
be one of the most natural and facile feats in the world. 

Except in their first war, when they displayed energy 
and skill in the attack on Quebec, the active operations 



AMERICAN SIDE OF THE FALLS. 49 

of the Republicans in Canada were not marked by any 
military excellence, notwithstanding the very hard 
fights which took place, but they showed them- 
selves most formidable opponents when they were 
attacked in position. 

• The Canadian side of the Falls boasts of charming 
scenery. Even in the snow, the neat cottages and 
houses — the plantations, gardens, and shrubberies — 
evince a degree of taste and comfort which were not 
so observable on the American side, notwithstanding 
the superior activity of the population. 

Our observations on our return to the right bank 
of the river confirmed my impression concerning the 
diminished volume and effect of the cataract. The ice, 
formed by spray, hung over the torrent, which, always 
more broken and less ponderous than that on the other 
side, is in summer very beautiful, by reason of the 
immense variety of form and colour in the jets and cas- 
cades, and of the ease with which you can stand, as it 
were, amid the very waters of Niagara. 

The town half populated ; the monster hotel closed ; 
the swimming-baths, in which one could take a plunge 
into the active rapids safely enclosed in a perforated 
room, now fastened up for winter, — presented a great 
contrast to the noise and bustle of the American 
Niagara in the season. This is the time when the 
Indians enable the shopkeepers to accumulate their 
stores of bead and feather work; and a few squaws, 
dressed in a curious compromise between the garments 
of the civilised female and the simpler robes of the 
" untutored savage," flitted through the snow from one 
dealer to another with their work. In some houses 
they are regularly employed all day, and come in from 



50 CANADA. 

their village in the morning and go home at night when 
their work is done. 

The view of the Rapids from the upper end of Goat 
Island is not, to my mind, as fine as that obtained from 
the island on the British side higher up. The sight 
of that tortured flood, loaded with its charging 
lines of "sea horses/' — its surging glistening foam- 
heaps streaking the wide expanse which rolled towards 
us from a dull leaden horizon, — was inexpressibly grand 
and gloomy, and struck me more forcibly than the 
•aspect of the Rapids had done in August, when I be- 
held them in a setting of rich green landscape and 
forest. 

On the whole, I would much rather, were I going to 
Niagara for the first time, select the Canadian side for 
my first view. It would be well never to look at the 
Falls, if that were possible, till the traveller could open 
his eyes from the remnant of the Table Rock on the 
Great Horseshoe; but curiosity will probably defeat 
any purpose of that kind. Still, the Horseshoe is 
grand enough to grow on the spectator day after day, 
even if there be some disappointment in the first aspect. 
The noise, though it shake the earth and air, is not of 
the violent overwhelming character which might have 
been expected from its effect on window-panes and 
shutters. As the voice of a man can be heard in the 
din of battle by those around him, so can even the low 
tones of a clear speaker be distinguished most readily 
close to the brink of a cataract, the roar of which at 
times is very audible, nevertheless, from twelve to fif- 
teen miles away. 

The only drawback to a sojourn on the Canadian 
side is, perhaps, the feeling of irritation or unrest pro- 



PrCTUEESQUENESS OF THE FALLS. 51 

cluced by the ceaseless jar and tumult of the Falls, which 
become well nigh unbearable at night, and vex one's 
slumbers with unquiet dreams, in which water plays a 
powerful part. The American side is not so much 
affected in that way. The Horseshoe presents by far 
the greatest mass of water; its rush is grander — the 
terrible fathomless gulf into which it falls is more awe- 
inspiring than anything on the American side; but the 
latter offers to the visitor greater variety of colour — I 
had nigh said of substance — in the water. At its first tre- 
mendous blow on the seething surface of the basin, the 
column of water seems to make a great cavern, into which 
it plunges bodily, only to come up in myriad millions of 
foaming particles, very small, bright, and distinct, like 
minute, highly-polished shot. These gradually expand 
and melt into each other after a wild dance in the cal- 
dron, which boils and bubbles with its awful hell-broth 
for ever. In the centre of the Horseshoe, which is 
really more the form of two sides of an obtuse-angled 
triangle, the water, being of great depth — at least thirty 
feet where it falls over the precipice — is of an azure 
green, which contrasts well with the yellow, white, and 
light emerald colours of the shallower and more broken 
portions nearer the sides. 

It would be considered rather presumptuous in 
any one to think of improving upon Niagara, but I 
cannot help thinking that the effect would be increased 
immensely if the island which divides the cataract into 
the Horseshoe and the American Falls, and the rock 
which juts up in the latter and subdivides it unequally, 
were removed or did not exist ; then the river, in one 
grand front of over one thousand yards, would make its 
leap en masse. The American Falls are destitute of the 

E 2 



5£ CAXADA. 

beauty given by the curve of the leap to the Horseshoe ; 
they descend perpendicularly, and are lost in a sea of 
foam, not in an abyss of water, but in the wild con- 
fusion of the vast rocks which are piled up below. But 
they are still beautiful exceedingly, and there is more 
variety of scene in the islands, in the passage over the 
bridges to Goat Island and to the stone tower, which 
has been built amid the very waters of the cataract, so 
that one can stand on the outside gallery and look down 
upon the Falls beneath. 

Goat Island is happily intersected with good drives 
and walks, laid out with sufficiently fair taste through 
the natural forest, and seats are placed at intervals 
for the accommodation of visitors. It is no dispa- 
ragement to the manner in which the grounds have 
been ornamented to say that a good English landscape 
gardener would convert the island into the gem of the 
world. The ornamentation need not be overdone ; it 
should be congruous and in keeping with the Falls, 
which nature has embellished with such infinity of 
colouring. As it is, the island is much visited. Strange 
enough, the softest whispered vows can be heard amid 
the thunder of Niagara, and it is believed that many 
marriages owe their happy inspiration to inadvertent 
walking and talking in these secluded yet much- 
haunted groves. Sawmills, papermills, and manufac- 
tories delight the utilitarian as he gazes on the Rapids 
which have so long been wasting their precious water- 
power, and it is not unlikely that a thriving town may 
grow up to distressing dimensions on the American side 
of the stream, at all events. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Leave Niagara — Suspension Bridge — In British territory — Hamilton 
City — Buildings — Proceed eastward — Toronto — Dine at Mess — 
Pay visits — Public edifices — Sleighs — Amusement of the boys — 
Camaraderie in the army — Kindly feeling displayed — Journey 
resumed towards Quebec — Intense cold — Snow landscape — Morn- 
ing in the train — Hunger and lesser troubles — Kingston, its rise 
and military position — Harbour, dockyards — Its connection with 
the Prince of Wales' Tour — The Upper St. Lawrence — Canada as 
to defence. 



We left the Falls with regret— the "city of the Falls" 
without any painful emotion. The people at the hotel 
were perfectly civil and obliging, though they bore no 
particular goodwill, perhaps, to one whom they had 
been taught to regard as the bitter enemy and tra- 
ducer of their country and their cause. 

Our guide seemed to pity us for our folly in 
going to such a place as Canada, when we could, 
if we liked, stay in an American hotel in the States. 
He assured us it was "only fit for Irish, French- 
men, and free niggers." The true American of this 
type is perhaps the most prejudiced man in the world, 
not even excepting the old type of the British farmer, 
or men of the Sibthorp epoch. His conviction of his 
immense superiority is founded on the readiness with 
which others flock to serve him. By their service he 
becomes a sort of aristocrat in regard to all immigrants, 



54 CANADA. 

and can live without having recourse to any menial 
office or duty. I presume our hairy friend never 
brushed his boots in his life, and would sooner wear 
them dirty for ever than stoop to the unwonted task. 
At last came our time to depart. 

Our sleighs glided smoothly down to the railway 
station at the Clifton, where the train was waiting to 
take us over the Suspension Bridge. That structure 
is, I fear, too beautiful to last. It requires a good 
deal of coolness and custom to look down from it on 
the fearful flood of the river rolling below, and mark 
the vibration as a heavy train passes over it. Then, 
too, there is the influence of cold on iron to be con- 
sidered, the effects of tension, and the like : all have 
been duly provided for ; and yet the bridge looks very 
light and very graceful, and let us hope it may be very 
strong and very lasting. 

In five minutes we were in British territory. The first 
palpable and outward sign of the fact was an examination 
of our luggage by the customs officers at a station a few 
miles from the frontier, during which, or by which, one 
of the party lost a hat and its guardian box. The exami- 
nation was rendered as little irksome as possible by 
the civility of the officials ; and it made me quite happy 
to see the crowns on their brass buttons, degraded 
British subject as I was. One burly fellow congra- 
tulated me on " escaping alive out of the hands of the 
Yankees — he would not have given a cent for my life 
for the last six months." 

Our journey was not so much impeded by snow 
as we expected. It is forty -three miles from Niagara 
to the rising city of Hamilton, and we were little more 
than one hour and a quarter in doing the distance. All 



HAMILTON. 55 

I am aware of is that on our way we passed through, 
vast snow-fields, by the mineral waters of St. Catherine's, 
the frozen canal, and that we caught glimpses on our 
right of the blue expanse of Lake Ontario. 

The first sight of Hamilton caused a rapid change in 
my mind respecting the condition of Canada, and a most 
agreeable feeling of surprise. It was evident the Ameri- 
cans were not justified in their affected depreciation of 
the provinces, if they contained such towns as these. 
Despite the unfavourable circumstances under which it 
was visited, the city presented an appearance of comfort 
and prosperity which even a democratic people might 
envy, and which scarcely justified the corporation in 
refusing, as I hear they do, to rely on local sources for 
liquidation of certain claims against them. 

Fine-looking streets, a forest of spires, important 
public buildings, did no discredit to the old standard 
which floated over the Custom-house near the station. 
And yet it was not possible to help remarking that the 
passengers in the train were reading American not 
Canadian newspapers. They were enjoying, the fruits 
of American piracy in their more serious studies. The 
literary thefts of the sanctimonious Harpers, who play 
for ever on the moods and tenses of the verb to steal — 
were in the hands of all the people who were reading 
books. 

Not alone the British flag did we see at Hamil- 
ton, but the British soldier; for at the doorway 
of the hotel were two well-known faces. A bat- 
talion of the Rifle Brigade was expected every 
moment, and two officers had been sent on to provide 
for their reception, as there were no barracks to receive 
the force, and they were hunting up house-owners to 



56 CANADA. 

let their premises on the instant. It may be imagined 
that house-owners take a favourable view for them- 
selves of the value of property thus suddenly in request ; 
and the officers were proportionately indiguant with 
those griping Canadians, as if they would have met 
different treatment from Euglish colonists anywhere. 

Hamilton is a city of some 20,000 inhabitants. It 
is on a baj r (Burlington), which runs in at the west of 
Lake Ontario north of the peninsula formed by the 
lake, by the St. Lawrence, by Lake Erie, and by the 
river falling into Erie at Maitland. It is on the rail 
between the west from Detroit and London, the south- 
east from the States, and the east from Toronto, Mon- 
treal, and Quebec. In event of war it is exposed to an 
attack by any American gunboat from the harbours on 
the south shore of Lake Ontario, and yet, to the best of 
my belief, it is utterly destitute of defence, and has not 
even a marte]lo tower for its protection. 

The name is not fifty years old, and twenty years 
ago Hamilton had less than 4000 inhabitants. Its 
growth bears no comparison with that of some American 
cities, but it is still very remarkable, and its wealth, 
importance, and defencelessness are quite sufficient to 
make it an object of attack. The houses are built of 
stone. Banks, hotels, manufactories, churches — well 
constructed and handsome — give proof of the prosperity 
of the community ; and the residence there of Sir Alan 
MacNab, who lived somewhere in the vicinity in a bran 
new mediaeval castle, should be some guarantee for 
their loyalty. Indeed, I was told that in no place had 
the Prince a more gratifying or enthusiastic reception. 

But men without discipline, organisation, or defensive 
works can do but little against gunboats. It is true 



TORONTO. 57 

that Hamilton would not be of much service to the 
enemy, as it would not command the communications ; 
but its possession by them would be very embarrassing, 
and its destruction, for lack of means to defend it, 
would be very discreditable. The population ought to 
yield at least 4000 able-bodied men for local service ; 
and a casemated work, armed with powerful guns, could 
keep a mere mischief-seeking gunboat at proper dis- 
tance, and save the place from destruction or injury. 

Our halt at Hamilton was brief, and soon we were 
on our way eastwards once more, skirting the shores of 
the lake, fenced in by a monotonous line of snow-laden 
fir trees and palings. The people who got in and out 
at the stations were of a different race from the 
Americans — stouter and ruddier of hue, and many of 
them spoke with a Scotch or Irish accent, the former 
predominating. They did not talk much about anything 
but the weather, and did not give themselves concern 
about anything except the winter and its prospects, 
having made up their minds long ago that there was to 
be no fight between England and the United States. 

Just as it became dusk we reached Toronto, having 
accomplished the thirty -eight miles in two hours, but 
late as it was we could make out the picturesque out- 
lines of a large city. Close to the station a line of 
sleighs, and a mass of well-dressed people drawn up by 
the margin of a sheet of ice, on which a skated crowd 
were whirling about, gave an air of gaiety to the 
place. 

A sharp smart sleigh drive, and we were at the com- 
fortable hotel, called Rossin House, where an invitation 
from the officers of Her Majesty's 30th to dinner was 
awaiting us. They were quartered in a substantial 



58 CANADA. 

old-fashioned barrack on the shore of lake Ontario, 
some distance outside the city. The barracks are 
surrounded by an earthen parapet, provided with 
traverses and embrasures, and there is a very quaint 
and fantastic earthen redoubt on the beach, but any 
ordinary vessel of war could lay the whole establish- 
ment in ruins with perfect impunity in half-an-hour. 

The mess table was surrounded by an unusual number 
of old Crimean officers, and I was glad to find 
the fears I had entertained that the inducements 
offered by the Americans to soldiers to desert, had not 
as yet given any considerable increase to the tendency 
in that direction, which causes such anxiety to regi- 
mental officers stationed near the frontier. Whilst I 
remained at Toronto, I dined daily at the same hos- 
pitable board. 

A snapping fierce wind, laden with icy arrows, set in 
the day after our arrival. In the afternoon, however, I 
sleighed out and visited the bishop, one of the most lively, 
agreeable men conceivable, of the age of ninety or 
thereabouts ; Mr. Brown, who is one of the powers of 
the State, and the editor and owner of the ablest paper 
in West Canada ; the mayor, and other Torontians of 
eminence. 

The city is so very surprising in the extent and 
excellence of its public edifices, that I was fain to write 
to an American friend at New York to come up and 
admire what had been done in architecture under a 
monarchy, if he wished to appreciate the horrible state 
of that branch of the fine arts under his democracy. 
Churches, cathedrals, market, post office, colleges, 
schools, mechanics' institute, rise in imperial dignity 
over the city ; but there was a visible deterioration in 



TARBOGGINING. 59 

the beer and billiard saloons, and the drinking ex- 
changes. The shops are large, and well furnished with 
goods, and trade even now is brisk enough, considering 
the time of the year. All this is within an enemy's 
grasp, and more than this, the command of the railway 
east and west. 

In this winter time the streets are filled with sleighs, 
and the air is gay with the caroling of their bells. 
Some of these vehicles are exceedingly elegant in form 
and finish, and are provided with very expensive furs, 
not only for the use of the occupants, but for mere 
display. The horses are small spirited animals, of no 
great pretension to beauty or breeding. The people 
in the streets were well-dressed, comfortable-looking, 
well-to-do — not so tall as the people in New York, but 
stouter and more sturdy-looking. Their winter brings 
no discomfort ; for fuel is abundant and not dear, and 
when the wind is not blowing high, the weather is 
very agreeable. 

Here, again, I observed that the young people 
have a curious custom of going about with small 
sleighs, which are, to the best of my belief, called " tar- 
boggins," though I did not see them indulge in the 
practice by which the youth of New York vex and fret 
the drivers of all vehicles in sleighing-time. I have 
been amused by observing the urchins in the Empire 
City prowling about with these primitive sleighs, watch- 
ing for an opportunity to exercise their talents. For- 
tunate it is for the British coachman that the youth 
of these islands are not acquainted with this pleasing 
mode of locomotion. Our omnibuses, having a con- 
ductor behind, would be better defended than the 
American vehicles, which have no such protection ; but 



60 CANADA. 

the four-wheeled cabs would fall a helpless prey into 
their hands. 

The sport is carried on in this wise: the youths 
take their tarboggin or sleigh — a flat piece of board four 
feet long, with or without runners, will do ; through a 
hole at one end is attached a piece of cord. The 
boys watch their opportunity, and when a vehicle 
passes, noiselessly on the snow they run out, slip the 
cord over the iron or any projection of the carriage 
behind, and, holding the end fast, throw themselves 
down on their sleigh, which is dragged along by the 
vehicle ; and if cabby should arise in his wrath, in an 
instant the end of the cord is let go, and the young 
navigator, starting to his feet, runs off with his instru- 
ment of torture in search of a new victim. It adds 
much to this entertainment for one boy to catch hold 
of the leg or the sleigh of another boy, so that a string 
of four or five youths may be seen in full enjoyment of 
the recreation. Bless them ! If I had not seen them 
following this sport, I should have fairly doubted if 
there were any boys in the United States. 

If there was not all the cordiality which could 
be desired between the natives and the military, no 
fault could be found with the full measure of hospi- 
tality dealt out to their own countrymen by the officers 
of the garrison. Removed from the stiffness of home 
stations, the genial, kindly character of our young 
soldiers expatiates, in despite of middling cookery and 
colonial wines, and keeps open house for friends on 
foreign service. When sleighing for the day is over, 
and the skating party has come to an end, it is hard 
indeed for poor Jones to think of anything more than 
his dinner ; but if he made the most of his opportunities, 



THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH SERVICE. 61 

he might write a book in the solitude of his barrack, as 
those famous prisoners have done whose brains have 
conceived and brought forth such brilliant works in the 
darkness of the Tower. 

The snows are well nigh as binding and environ- 
ing for a third of the year in bad seasons, and no 
doubt something would come of it all, but that 
the officer has his duties to attend to, and cannot 
escape from Private 1000's stoppages, grievances, or 
failings. Now, it is no easy matter indeed for British 
officers to be very great friends in the same regiment. 
Of course you will find Pylades and Orestes there, 
but you may be sure if you do they are men who 
have no clashing interests, no contest of purses, no 
conflicting views about leave or steps. It is to me 
quite wonderful, all things considered, how bravely 
the natural kindliness of our officers contends against 
a system which, with all its advantages, creates a 
source of rivalry and jealousy not known in other 
services. 

In a promotion-by-seniority service there can of 
course be no feeling against a man on the part of his 
juniors because he happens to be older; but no one 
can well brook the greater fortune which depends on 
the command of money, — though he may be willing 
to seize on it, if he can, by the same means, — in the 
case of his own juniors. I do not speak without 
some small knowledge when I say that there is a 
much larger amount of camaraderie in our service than 
ought to be found in it, but that there is much less 
than exists in some other armies. The French officer is 
jealous of the man promoted by merit, for the declara- 
tion of that superiority is a tacit censure on himself, 



62 CANADA. 

and lie is also prone to take umbrage at the good 
fortune of the immortels of the Etat major; but he 
has little ground for antipathy to any of his own set, 
as regards social position or military rank in the corps. 

Our strong love of field-sports also tends to create 
small difficulties when at home, from which spring 
other causes of estrangement. One man, for instance, 
wants to get to the spring-meeting when another is 
burning for the spring-fishing — shooting-leaves and 
hunting-leaves clash together, though in no army in 
the world is there such a liberal system of furlough 
as in our own. These causes do not operate in 
Canada, where there is now, in fact, but little sport 
of any kind within easy distances. Moose shooting in 
snow is slow work, and for other game the sportsman 
must wander far and wide. Eut when the table is 
set, and the full tide of conversation flows, what a 
cheery group of warriors, young and old, may be seen in 
Canadian quarters ! They have had sleighing parties 
and skating adventures, and altogether have got over 
the day somehow, and are prepared to look pleasantly 
on the world, albeit the snow is two feet deep over it. 

As to the position afforded by the buildings in these 
particular old barracks in Toronto, no more uncomfort- 
able place could well be imagined in face of an enemy. 
The defences are so ludicrous, that a Chinese engi- 
neer would despise them. Certainly, we have no right 
to laugh at Americans, or to hold their works in petto, 
if we take one glance at the fortifications of Toronto ; 
and yet, as will be seen, it is a place of the very greatest 
importance. 

My stay here would have been longer, perhaps, 
but that I was informed of a very kindly intention on 



DEPARTURE FROM TORONTO. 63 

the part of the people which I did not desire to have 
carried out, at all events under the existing circum- 
stances — being in hopes that a future opportunity would 
occur of proving that I was not indifferent to the good 
feeling and very nattering sentiments of the gentlemen 
who had commenced the movement towards myself; 
and so, in the sure hope that I would be back in 
Toronto ere I left America, I bade my good friends 
good-bye, never, as it proves, in all likelihood, to see 
them again, and, in the midst of a snow-fall, resumed 
my journey with my companions towards Quebec. 

After undergoing a year of obloquy, ill-looks, slander, 
and popular disfavour in a great country, it was very 
pleasant to meet with such marks of goodwill and 
kindness from one's countrymen and fellow-subjects 
on the same continent; and it was quite as gratifying 
to know that such feelings were entertained by them, 
as it would have been to receive the outward token of 
their existence, which alone would have contented my 
friends. 

The evening on which I left Toronto was intensely 
cold. Never for a moment had the snow and frost 
relented, and a wind of piercing keenness swept up the 
frozen dust in thick clouds, which penetrated every 
chink. The railway officials did their best for us, and the 
stove in the carriage was poked up to excessive energy ; 
but the heat of these calorifiers is worse than cold itself. 

Our way lay through a snow-field bordered by 
snow-hills, or by the stiff cones of snow-covered 
firs. Our fellow-passengers were big men in fur-coats 
and thick boots, who were given to silence and sleep. 
Slowly the train creaked through the soft barrier which 
so gently yet stiffly, opposed the tramp of the iron 



64 CANADA. 

horse. The landscape was simply nothing to see. It 
looked as if one were going for ever through a vast 
array of newly- washed sheets spread over the whole 
country. Darkness fell suddenly out of the skies on 
the whiteness, but still could not darken it. The 
whiteness shone through the depths of night, and 
flashed out in streaks of dazzling light, as the flare of 
the engine-fires and of the lamps shot out over the 
surface. And so it came to pass that at last we went 
to sleep, gathering up rug and greatcoat and wrapper 
into vast mounds, from which issued many a spiritus 
asper and susurrous sounds for the livelong night. 

On waking up it seemed as though day had 
just dawned, but the watch said it was nearly eight 
o'clock. A cold white light, filled with rime, bat- 
tled through the frost on the windows of the car- 
riage, which was spread over the glass like beautiful 
damascened white tablecloths. Scraping away a 
lovely trellis pattern with my nail, I opened a space 
of clear transparent ocean in the ice-sea, and was 
rewarded for my pains by a view of a cloud of snow 
which had been* falling all night, and now rested deep 
on the ground, and turned the pines and firs bounding 
the line of rail into ragged white tumuli. 

The train still creaked and bumped now and then over 
the snow, squeaked, puffed, and grated, and at last 
came to a standstill, again went on, and again halted. 
At last we reached a station. Seven hours behind 
time ! A sensation of hunger by no means slight fell 
upon us. Frost is an appetizer of undoubted merit. 
We had neglected laying in a viaticum. More pru- 
dent and accustomed travellers produced flasks and 
brown-paper parcels, and all the wonderful things 



KINGSTON. (55 

which Americans consume on the voyage. Let me 
not be fastidious, however ; for after a time I envied 
men who were discussing pleasantly fragments of 
unseemly cakes, spice-nuts, and brandy-balls for break- 
fast. 

My companions prowled up and down the horrid 
car, reeking with the stove-drawn odours of many 
bodies during the night — they sought food like young 
lions. Pah ! what an atmosphere it was ! — all windows 
closed by reason of cold intense outside, the hateful 
stoves, one in the centre of the car, and one at each 
end, heated almost to redness, surrounded by men 
who crowded up, and chewed tobacco, and smote the 
iron surface with hissing burnt-sienna-coloured jets ! — 
frowsty, fusty, and muggy exceedingly. There was a 
deposit of train-oil, — a hot humanised dew all over us. 
And water, there was none to wash with. So I applied a 
handful of snow gathered on the carriage platform to 
my face and hands in lieu thereof, and got back to 

my seat just as A n returned from some distant 

part of the train with hands full of apples. They were 
delicious, and with three or four of them, and a few 
cigars, we managed to construct a charming breakfast. 

It was so dark when the train reached Kingston, 
that we could see nothing more than the outlines 
of the station. I was exceedingly anxious to visit 
a place of so much importance historically, commer- 
cially, and strategically, and fully intended to remain 
there for some days on my return to Toronto ; but the 
Fates ordained that it was not to be, and all my personal 
knowledge of Kingston was derived from that glimpse 
in the dark of the railway terminus, and certain 
steeples and spires rising above the snow. But the 



CO CANADA. 

position of the city confers upon it a very high place on 
the list of military posts for the defence of Canada, and 
some considerations connected with it will be discussed 
hereafter. 

Politically Kingston has become a dead body since 
1S44, when its short-lived career as the capital and 
seat of government was cut short. The military 
genius of the French occupants in early days, in seizing 
on the best positions for the defence and maintenance 
of their conquest, is shown still, by the fact that our 
forts occupy the sites of those which were originally 
constructed' by them. More than a hundred years 
before there was any trace of a city at Kingston, or 
any building save the wigwam of the Indian or the 
log-huts of the soldiery, the Count de Frontenac 
built a fort in communication with the great system, 
from the St. Lawrence to the Ohio, of the French 
strongholds, which was destined to extend to the 
Mississippi, and to enclose the troublesome English 
Colonies within stringent limits. When this fort was 
captured by Colonel Bradstreet in 1756, the French had 
only established a kind of military colony and a very 
insignificant trading-post round the fort. In little 
more than twenty years subsequently, the present town 
was founded ; and in the war with America the place 
became of very great consequence. 

It is a fact curious enough, and worthy of some con- 
sideration, that the great war in the middle of the last 
century, which ended in the loss to France of her hopes 
of Indian influence and of empire, and in the seizure of 
her American Colonies by Great Britain, should have, 
according to the best of American statesmen and 
philosophical reasoners, led also to the establishment of 



ETC. 67 

the United States, and the foundation of the greatest 
Republic the world has ever seen. 

Kingston commands the entrance to the Rideau Canal, 
one of the principal means of communication between 
Lake Ontario and the interior of the country, forming 
an admirable connection between the Ottawa River 
and Lake Ontario : it is, in fact, the most important 
means of inland intercourse, because the difficulties 
in the way of an enemy are very considerable, either 
in a direct attack upon Kingston, if properly fortified, 
or in a flank movement against it from the interior. 

The canal is brought into working order with the 
Grand Trunk Railway ; so that if the Americans, our 
only possible enemy, were to make demonstrations 
against our frontier and our lines, with a view of 
intercepting our supplies and internal relations between 
the east and west of the province, it would be easy to 
disembark men and munitions at Kingston Mills and 
forward them by railway. Kingston, again, is an excel- 
lent point of observation, and with proper defences and 
aggressive resources, ought to command Lake Ontario 
and the entrance from the St. Lawrence. An adequate 
force stationed there, with a proper flotilla, could 
effectually keep in check any hostile demonstration 
from Cape Vincent, Sacket's Harbour, or the other 
posts from Oswego to the western extremity of Lake 
Ontario. 

The harbour is said to be excellent ; there is a 
dockyard, which could be rendered capable of doing 
most of the work required for our light gunboats : and 
with the additions pointed out and urged by our en- 
gineer officers to the existing fortifications, Kingston 
could be made a position of as much military 

p2 



68 CANADA. 

strength as it undoubtedly now is of strategical im- 
portance. 

Between Toronto and Kingston there are, however, 
Port Hope, Coburg, and Belville on the line of railway, 
all of which present facilities for the landing of an 
enemy : at any one of these points a hostile occupation 
would cut the regular communications at once; and 
indeed it is very much to be regretted, in a military 
point of view, that engineering, commercial, or other 
considerations caused the makers of the Grand Trunk 
Railway to run the line close to the shores of a 
great inland sea, the opposite side of which belongs to 
a foreign country which has from time to time an- 
nounced (if not through the lips of statesmen, by the 
popular voice) that the conquest of Canada is a fixed 
principle in its policy. 

The Americans, whether by accident or design, have 
constructed the New York Central, which runs along 
the south coast, at a distance of many miles from Lake 
Ontario, but cross-lines connect it with the principal 
ports upon the lake, from Buffalo to Sandusky ; their 
line runs tolerably close to the shore of Lake Erie 
higher up, but there is no position on that lake which 
has to fear the aggression of such a force as could be 
collected at Kingston. 

Perhaps to the generality of people in England, 
Kingston was first made known by the unpleasant 
incidence which compelled the Prince of Wales to pass 
it unvisited, or rather to remain on board the steamer. 
No doubt the Orangemen are now very sorry for what 
they did, and, in fact, feel that they were led by the 
fanaticism or the desire for notoriety of some small 
local leaders to make themselves very ridiculous and 



THE RAILWAY LINES. GO 

offensive. The zeal of these Defenders of the Faith was 
no doubt stimulated by the presence of a large number 
of Irish Roman Catholics, who are at least as violent as 
their opponents. 

The French-Canadians, with just as much fidelity to 
their faith, do not enter into the violent polemical, poli- 
tical, and miscalled religious controversies which led to 
such an unseemly result at Kingston ; and certainly, it 
is much to be regretted that the peculiar influence of 
American institutions, which checks any attempt of 
religious parties to disturb the public peace or social 
relations for their own purposes and for the gratification 
of pride or lust of power, cannot be extended to the 
provinces and to the British Possessions, where they 
work such prodigious mischief. 

From Kingston the line winds along the shore of the 
great lake-like river, studded with a thousand islands. 
Here, again, the Americans would possess considerable 
advantage in case of war, as their main-line is far inland, 
but branch-lines from it lead to Cape Vincent and 
Ogdensburgh, at right-angles to our line of commu- 
nication. The American water-boundary, I believe, 
passes outside a considerable number of the more 
important islands ; but the power which possesses 
naval supremacy on Lake Ontario will probably find 
the means of commanding the Upper St. Lawrence, 
no matter which belligerent establishes himself on the 
islands. 

The Canadians with whom I conversed in the train 
declared they were quite ready to defend their country 
in case of invasion, but did not understand, they said, 
being taken away to distant points to fight for the 
homes of others. It seemed quite clear to them that 



70 CANADA. 

the United States would only invade Canada to hu- 
miliate and weaken the mother-country, and that the 
general defence of the province ought to devolve on 
the power whose policy had led to the war ; whilst the 
inhabitants should be ready to give the imperial troops 
every assistance in the localities where they are actually 
resident. 



CHAPTER V. 

Arrive at Cornwall — The St. Lawrence — Gossip on India — Aspect of 
the country — Montreal — The St. Lawrence Hall Hotel — Story 
of a Guardsman — Burnside — Dinner — Refuse a banquet — Flags 
— Climate — Salon-a-manger — Contrast of Americans and English 
— Sleighs — The "Driving Club" — The Victoria Bridge — Uneasy 
feeling — Monument to Irish emigrants — Irish character — Montreal 
and New York — The Rink — Sir F. Williams — Influence of the 
Northerners. 

It was noon ere we reached Cornwall, a place some 
seventy miles from Montreal, where a rough restaurant 
at the station enabled us to make a supplement to 
the deficiencies of our simple repast. The people 
who poured in and out of the train here were fine 
rough-looking fellows, with big, broad, sallow faces and 
large beards, wrapped up in furs, wearing great long 
boots, — men of a new type. Several of them were 
speaking in French ; but the literature which travelled 
along with us was American, mostly New York, in the 
matter of periodicals : it was of course English, and 
pirated, in the more substantial forms. The frost still 
clung to the outside of the windows ; inside, the foliage 
and broad tracery of leaves, and cathedral aisles, and 
plumes of knight and lady, tumbled down in big drops, 
and by degrees the sun cleared away the crust on one 
side, so that we could look out on the flat expanse of 
snow-covered forest. 



72 CANADA. 

On our right, now and then glimpses could be caught 
of a pale blue riband-like streak across the dazzling 
white plain. "That's the St. Lawrence you see there. 
Pitty it's friz up so long. We wouldn't envy the 
Yankees anything they've got to show us if we had a 
port open all the year," quoth an honest Canadian 
beside me. For the first time I began to feel sym- 
pathy for a country that "can't get out" for five 
mortal months, and that breathes through another 
man's nostrils and mouth. A horrible semi-suffocated 
sort of existence. No wonder the Canadians look 
longingly over at that bit of land which Lord 
Ashburton yielded to the United States and the State 
of Maine. 

A n and I, by way of counteracting the influence 

of the atmosphere and external scenery, talked of 
India. Some poor creatures half the world's girth away, 
whom we were speaking of at that moment, would have 
given a good deal for some of the despised ice and 
snow around us, groaning no doubt under that sun 
which even in February knows no coolness in Central 
India in mid-day. How oddly things turn up ! I had 
ever firmly believed that a young soldier friend of mine 
had slain many enemies in that great rebellion, and 
had, Achilles-like, sent many souls of sepoys to Hades, 
and so in that faith speaking, suddenly I was interrupted 

by A n. " "What are you talking of? He kill so 

many budmashes at Nulla-Nullah ! Why, I don't 
believe he ever fired a shot or made a cut at a nigger 
in his life." My fierce little friend had done both, 
and many a time and oft. And so, as he knew, away 
went a reputation, within thirty miles of Montreal; 
thermometer 10°, 



MONTREAL. 73 

Hereabouts were seen many snug homesteads rising 
up through the snow, with farmhouses, and outhouses 
— all clad in the same livery. The country looked 
well cleared and settled ; sleighs glided over the surface, 
and were drawn up at the stations to carry passengers 
and luggage. Anon we came upon a great frozen river, 
and crossed it by a series of arches too great for a 
bridge ; but this was nevertheless the Ottawa itself 
rolling away under its ice coat, as the blood flows 
through an artery, to rush unseen into the cold em- 
brace of the St. Lawrence. These two great bridges 
must be worth visiting when they can be seen in the 
full exercise of their functions. The river forms an 
island here which the ice now continentalises. 

About four o'clock, very much as land looms 
up in the ocean, we saw the dark mass of Montreal 
rising up in contrast to the whitened mountain at the 
foot of which it lies; the masts of vessels frozen in, 
and funnels of steamers, mingled with steeples and 
domes ; and as the sun struck the windows a thousand 
flashes of glowing red darted back upon us. Then the 
train ran past a " marine factory/' whatever that 
may be, and a suburb of stone and wooden houses inter- 
mixed, and a population of children whose faces looked 
preternaturally pale, perhaps from the reflection of 
the snow, and of women in pork-pie hats with thick 
veils over their faces, and of men, mostly smoking, in 
great fur coats and boots ; and at last the train reached 
the terminus, where a great concourse of sleigh-drivers, 
who spoke as though they had that moment left Kings- 
town jetty, Ireland, claimed our body and property. 
These were promptly routed by the staff of the St. 
Lawrence Hall, who carried off our party to an omnibus 



74 CANADA. 

without wheels, which finally bore us off to the hotel 
so called. 

The soldiers about the streets were all comfortably 
clad in dark overcoats, fur caps with flaps for the 
ears, and long boots; but the dress takes from their 
height, and does not conduce to a smart soldier-like 
appearance. 

The streets through which we passed were lined 
with well-built lofty houses. It might scarce be 
fancy which made me think that Montreal was better 
built than American cities of the same size. In the 
great cold hall of the hotel there was excessive 
activity : befurred officers of the regiments sent to 
Canada during the Trent difficulty, before Mr. Seward 
had made up his mind and persuaded the Presi- 
dent to give up the Southern envoys, were coming 
in, going out, or were congregated in the passage. 
Orderlies went to and fro with despatches and office 
papers. In fact the general-in-chief, Sir Fenwick 
Williams of Kars, and staff, the commanding officer of 
the Guards, Lord G. Paulet, and staff, were quartered 
here, and carried on their office business; and the 
Commissary-General, Power, and the Principal Medical 
Officer, Dr. Muir, were also lodging in the hotel, with a 
host of combatant officers of inferior grade. 

There was no rush to the table-d'hote, after tie 
American fashion, but the dinner itself was very much 
in the American style. I was much amused at the 
distress of a Guardsman who made his appearance 
at the doorway during dinner, with a letter in his 
hand for one of the officers. He halted stifflv at the 
threshold, and stood staring at the brilliancy of the 
splendid ormolu ornaments, and the array of lac- 



TABLE-D HuTE. 75 

quered chandeliers and covers. In vain the waiters 
pointed out to him the officer he sought ; he would not 
intrude on the gorgeous scene, nor would he trust 
his missive to another hand. At last, after gazing 
in a desperate manner on space, and balancing from 
one leg to another, he took a maddening resolve, put 
his hand to his cap, held the other out with the letter 
in it as his dumb apology and in mitigation of punish- 
ment, and marching straight to his mark, trampling 
crowds of waiters in his way, only halted when he 
came up to the table he sought, where, with eyeballs 
starting, he put the missive to the level of the captain's 
nose, saluted, and ejaculated, " By order of Colonel 
Jones, sir." "All right.-''' With a wheel round and 
a salute, the perturbed warrior countermarched and 
escaped into the prosaic outward world. A Frenchman 
would have come in with the most perfect self-posses- 
sion, and possibly with some little grace. An American 
would probably have turned his chew, have addressed 
some remarks to the waiters on his way, have given 
the captain a tap on the back or a nudge of the elbow, 
and would rather have expected a drink. And which 
of the three, after all, is to be preferred ? 

I met a whole regiment of men I knew, and after 
dinner adjourned with some of them to my rooms. 
They all growled of course, found fault with Canada 
and abused the Government, and seemed to think 
it ought not to snow in winter. 

I received a most interesting letter from a friend of 
mine with the Burnside expedition, which revealed as 
large an amount of bad management as could well be 
conceived. Burnside, personally, has enough ingenuity, 
but is quite wanting in self-reliance, presence of mind, 



' 6 CANADA. 

and vigour. The expedition from which so much was 
expected did more than might have been thought pos- 
sible at one time under the circumstances. 

A telegram from Toronto informed me that it was in 
contemplation to invite me to a public banquet, and 
desired me to state my wishes. Very much as I 
appreciated such an honour from my countrymen and 
fellow-subjects, it was inconsistent, as I conceived, with 
my position, as it certainly was with my sense of 
the merits attributed to me, to accept the very great 
compliment offered to me. It came all the more 
agreeably as it was in such contrast to the manner 
in which I had been received in the United States for 
the last few months; and it touched me very sensibly, 
more than my friends at Toronto could have imagined. 

A n came in rather wroth about a matter of flags. 

He had been to see some Frenchmen, whether real or 
true Zouaves of the Crimea I know not, who gave out 
on tremendous posters that they were the identical 
children of the Beni Zoug Zoug, who had acted before 
us all in that theatre on the Woronzow Road once so 
charming and well filled ; and he had been seized with 
indignation because they, in that Canadian city, under 
the British flag, had dared to perform under the 
folds of the tricolor, and the stars and stripes of the 
United States. I explained that the British flag was 
metaphorically and properly supposed to float above 
both; all which much comforted him, and so to bed — 
cold enough, in despite of stoves and open fire. The 
servants here are Irish men and women, with a sprink- 
ling of free negroes. 

Next day the weather was not at all warmer. In 
winter time the cold is bv no means unbearable in this 



ENGLISH AND AMERICANS. 77 

Canadian clime, when one is well furred and clad ; to 
the poor it must be very trying, for furs and fuel are 
dear, and even clothing of an ordinary kind is not 
cheap. The emigrant, in his rude log hut open in 
many chinks, must shrink and shiver and suffer in the 
blast. What do they, who follow, not owe to the hardy 
explorer who has opened up wood and mountain, and 
laid down paths on the sea for them ? 

A thick haze had now settled down on all things, a 
cold freezing rime, which clung and crept to one, and 
almost sat down on the very hearth. Descending the 
stairs, which were in a transition state and in the 
hands of carpenters, to the long " salon-a-manger," I 
found the tables well filled by guardsmen, riflemen, 
and members of the staff, military and civil, who gave 
the place the air of a mess-room under disorderly cir- 
cumstances. 

I had before this seen many such rooms in American 
hotels in cities filled with soldiery, and I am bound to 
say the difference between the two sets of men was 
remarkable. The noise, gaiety, and life of these grave 
English were exuberant when compared to the silence 
of American gatherings of the same kind, which are, 
indeed, disturbed by the clatter of plates and dishes, 
and the horrible squeaking of chair legs over the 
polished floors, but otherwise are quiet enough. Here, 
men laughed out, talked loud, shouted to the waiters, 
aired their lungs in occasional scoldings and objurga- 
tions, having reference to chops and steaks and tardy- 
coming dishes; " old-fellowed " their friends; asked or 
told the news. I don't know that the Englishmen 
were better looking, taller, or in any physical way had 
the advantage of the men of the continent, except in 



78 CANADA. 

ruddier cheeks perhaps, and in frames better provided 
with cellular tissue ; but the distinction of style and 
manner was marked. 

The Americans usually came into the salon singly ; 
each man, with a bundle of newspapers under his 
arm, took a seat at a vacant table, ordered a pro- 
digious repast, which he gobbled in haste, as though 
he was afraid of losing a train, and then rushed off to 
the bar or smoked in the passages, never sitting for a 
moment after his breakfast. The Englishmen came in 
little knots or groups, exhibited no great anxiety about 
newspapers, ordered simple and substantial feasts, en- 
joyed them at their ease, chattered much, and were in 
no particular hurry to leave the table. The taciturnity 
of the American was not well-bred, nor was the good 
humour of the Briton vulgar. It may be said the 
comparison is not just, because the Americans were 
engaged in a fearful war, which engrossed all their 
thoughts ; whilst the English officer was merely sent 
out on a tour of duty. But in the bar-room, restaurants, 
or streets, the American did not maintain the same 
aspect : he put on what is called a swaggering air, and 
was not at all disposed to let his shoulder-straps or his 
sword escape notice. 

The good people at home would have been greatly 
surprised to hear the way in which the officers spoke 
of their exile to the snows of Canada ; but though they 
growled and grumbled when breakfast was over, pro- 
bably till dinner time, they would have fought all the 
better for it. Indeed there was not much else to do. 

The streets were piled with snow ; and at the front of 
the hotel, sleighs, driven by Irishmen, such as are seen 
managing the Dublin hacks, wrapped up in fur and 



SLEIGHING AND DRIVING. 79 

sheepskins, were drawn up waiting for fares, to the 
constant jingle of the bells, which enlivened the air. 
It was too early and too raw and cold for many of the 
ladies of Montreal to trust their complexions to the 
cruelties of the climate, thickly veiled though they 
might be; but now and then a sleigh slid by with a 
bright-eyed freight half-buried in fourrures, and some 
handsome private vehicles of this description reached 
in their way as high a point of richness and elegance 
as could well be conceived. The horses were rarely 
of corresponding quality. The guardsmen and other 
soldiers, "red" and "green/ 5 strode about in cold 
lefiant boots, and seemed to like the town and climate 
better than their officers. Mr. Blackwell, the amiable 
and accomplished chief of the Grand Trunk Railway, 
called for me, and drove me out to an early dinner. 

It was a matter of some ceremony to set forth : a fur 
cap with flaps secured over the ears and under the chin, 
a large fur cloak, and a pair of moccasins for the feet, had 
to be put on ; and then we clomb the sides of the boat- 
like sleigh, and started off at a rapid pace, which pro- 
duced a sea-sick sensation — at least what I am told is 
like it — in very rough places where the runners of the 
sleighs have cut into the snow. On our way we were 
rejoiced by the sight of the " Driving Club * going out 
for an excursion, Sir Fenwick Williams leading. All 
one could see, however, was a certain looming up of 
dark forms through the drift gliding along to the 
music of the bells, which followed one after the other, 
and were lost in the hazy yet glittering clouds tossed 
up by the horses' hoofs from the snow. In the after- 
noon the rime passed off, and the day became clearer, 
but no warmer. 



80 CANADA. 

At about three o' clock, we sleighed over by rough 
roads to the terminus of the railway, close to the 
Victoria Bridge, where a party of the directors 
and some officers — Colonel Mackensie, Colonel 
Wetherall, Colonels Ellison and Earle of the Guards, 
and others recently arrived — were assembled to view 
the great work which would stamp the impress of 
English greatness on Canada, if her power were to be 
rooted out to-morrow. The royal carriage — a prettily 
decorated long open waggon, with the Prince of Wales's 
coat of arms, plume, and initials still shining brightly — 
was in readiness ; and as cold makes one active, or very 
lazy, as the case may be, we lost no time in starting to 
explore the bridge, which threw its massive weight in 
easy stretches across the vast frozen highway of the St. 
Lawrence — so light, so strong, so graceful, for all its 
rigid lines, that I can compare the impression of the 
thing to nothing so much as to that of the bounds of 
a tiger. 

The entrance, in the limestone rock, is grandly 
simple ; but ere we could well admire its proportions 
the car ran into the darkness of the great tube. The 
light admitted by the neatly designed windows in the 
iron sides of the aerial tunnel was not enough to enable 
us to pierce through the smoke and the fog which clung 
to the interior. The car proceeded to the end, the 
thermometer marking 6°. Statistics, though I have 
them all by me, I am not about to give, as the history 
of the bridge is well known ; but Mr. Blackwell showed 
me a table which indicated that the monster suffers or 
rejoices like a living thing, and contracts and expands 
and swells out his lines wondrously, just in proportion 
as the temperature alters. 



BRIDGE ACROSS THE ST. LAWRENCE. 81 

From this end of the magnificent bridge one 
could see, nearly a hundred feet below him, the rugged 
surface of the ice, beneath which was rolling the St. 
Lawrence. It was distinguished from the snowy 
expanse covering the land by the bluish glint of the 
ice, and by the torn glacier-like aspect of the course of 
the stream, where the frozen masses had been contend- 
ing fiercely with the current and with each other till 
the frost-king had clutched them and bound them in 
the midst of the conflict. You could trace the likeness 
of spires, pinnacles, castles, battlements, and alpine peaks 
in the wild confusion of those serried heaps, which were 
tilted up and forced together; but the haze did not 
permit us to follow the course of the stream for any 
great distance. It was too cold for enthusiastic enjoy- 
ment, and we got into the car and backed into the 
darkness till we reached the centre of the bridge. 

I confess, when it occurred to me that great cold 
makes iron brittle, the uneasy feeling I experienced of 
suspense, malgremoi, in passing over auy of these great 
engineering triumphs, was aggravated so far that it 
required a good deal of faith in the charming diagram 
of the effects of temperature on the bridge, to make 
me quite at ease. I suppose it is only an engineer 
who can be quite above the thought, " Suppose, after 
all, the bridge does go at this particular moment." 
And then the iron did crackle and bang and shriek 
most unmistakeably and demonstratively. 

At the centre of the bridge we got out, and had 
another look at the river, some sixty feet below. Re- 
marked the thinness of the iron ; was informed it was 
on purpose, every plate being made specially for its 
place. Examined carefully a bolt driven in by the 



82 CANADA. 

Prince of Wales ; rather liked its appearance, as it was 
well hammered and seemed sound. Then the car 
received us, and we were drawn through this ghastly- 
cold gallery once more, and were divulged at the rail- 
way station among a crowd of furred citizens. 

Thence through the city over the rough road in 
our carrioles and sleighs. On our way I remarked a 
stone obelisk standing out of the snow close to the 
railway, in a low patch of ground near the river. 
"That," said my companion, "is a memorial to six 
thousand Irish emigrants who died here of ship fever." 
What a history in those few words — a tale of sorrow 
and woe unutterable — I hope, not of neglect and indif- 
ference too ! The railway engineers have thoughtfully 
erected the monument of the nameless dead, and so 
far rescued their fate from oblivion. 

I am not so philosophic as to witness the desolating 
emigrations which leave the homes of a country waste, 
and fill the lands of future kingdoms and possible rivals 
with an alienated population, without regret. Above 
all, I pity the fate of the poor pioneers whose hapless 
lot it is to labour unthanked and despised, to build 
up the stranger's cities, to clear his forests, and make 
his roads, to found his power and greatness, and then 
to sit at his gate waiting for alms when the hour 
cometh that no man can work. 

It is most strange, indeed, and yet too true, that 
a race which, above all others, ought to seek the 
material advantages and the substantial results of 
hard work, should be the most readily led astray by 
windy agitators and by political disputes and passions. 
Here we are driving through the streets of Montreal, 
which owes much of its existence to Irish labour, and 



MONTREAL AND NEW YORK. 83 

the labourer lives in filth and degradation, in the back 
slums of the city, intensely interested in elections and 
clerical discussions, little better cared for or regarded 
than the dogs thereof till his vote is required. 

The city is now in its winter mantle, but it shows fair 
proportions. The Roman Catholic chapels are well 
placed and handsome, and excel in size and numbers 
the Protestant churches. The Quarter-master-General, 
who has had to hire one of the Catholic colleges to serve 
as barracks for the troops, says the priests are remark- 
ably keen practitioners at a bargain : good Churchmen 
always were in old times. The metal-covered domes 
and spires, the roofs of houses sheeted with tin, now 
began to glisten in the sun, and gave a bright look to 
the place which did not make it all the warmer. 

Montreal is a much finer-looking place than I had 
expected. The irregularity of the streets pleased the 
eye, wearied by straight lines and regular frontage. 
The houses of stone with double windows have plain 
bare fronts, and do not present so good an appearance 
as the best of New York ; but the character of the 
residences as a whole is better, and the effect of the 
city, to compare small things with great, very much 
more interesting and picturesque. 

Our destination in this drive was the Rink, or 
covered skating-ground, which is the fashionable sport- 
ing resort of Montrealese in the winter time. The 
crowd of sleighs and sleigh- drivers around the doors 
of a building which looked like a Methodist chapel, 
announced that the skaters were already assembled. 

Anything but a Methodist-looking place inside. The 
room, which was like a large public bath-room, 
was crowded with women, young and old, skating 

6 2 



S4 ( CANADA. 

or preparing to skate, for husbands, and spread in 
maiden rays over .the glistening area of ice, gliding, 
swooping, revolving on legs of every description, which 
were generally revealed to mortal gaze in proportion 
to their goodness, and therefore were displayed on a 
principle so far unobjectionable. The room was lighted 
with gas, which, with the heat of the crowd, made 
the ice rather sloppy; but the skating of the natives 
was admirable, and some hardened campaigners of 
foreign origin had by long practice learned to emulate 
the graces and skill of the inhabitants. 

It was a mighty pretty sight. The spectators sat or 
stood on the raised ledge round the ice parallelogram 
like swallows on a cliff, and now and then dashed off 
and swept away as if on the wing over the surface, 
in couples or alone, executing quadrilles, mazurkas, 
waltzes, and tours de force, that made one conceive 
the laws of gravitation must be suspended in the 
Rink, and that the outside edge is the most stable 
place for the human foot and figure. Mercy, what 
a crash ! There is a fine stout young lady sprawling 
on the ice, tripped up by Dontstop of the Guards, who 
is making a first attempt, to the detriment of the 
lieges. How delighted the ladies are, and pretend not 
to be ; for the fallen fair one is the best contortionist in 
the place ! She is on her legs again — has shaken the 
powdered ice and splash off her dandy jacket and 
neat little breeches, — yes, they wear breeches, a 
good many of them, — and is zigzagging about once 
more like a pretty noiseless firework. 

The little children skate, so do most portentous 
mammas. A line of recently arrived officers, in fur caps 
and coats, look on, all sucking their canes, and re- 



SIR FENWICK WILLIAMS. 58 

solving to take private lessons early in the morning. 
Some, in the goose-step stage, perform awful first lines 
with their skates, and leave me in doubt as to whether 
they will split up or dash out their brains. The young 
ladies pretend to avoid them with unanimity, but sail 
round them still as seagulls sweep by a drowning man. 
And if a fellow should fall — and be saved by a lady ? 
Weil ! It may end in an introduction, and a condition 
of "muffinage." And what that is we must tell you 
hereafter. I can't answer your question as to whether 
the women were pretty ; eyes dark generally, and good 
complexions. The Rink is a bad place to judge of that 
point. 

I paid my respects to Sir Fenwick Williams, who 
has his quarters in the hotel. The general has plenty 
of work to do at present, and did not seem quite 
so well as when I saw him after his return from Kars. 
There is a general impression that the Federals will 
keep their armies in good humour at the end of the 
war, by annexing Canada, if they can. No one asks 
what they will do with them when that work has been 
accomplished. Dined at the house of the Hon. John 
Rose, member for Montreal, and formerly a member 
of the Government. He had, after his hospitable wont, 
some young officers to dine also ; and, after an agree- 
able evening, I slid home in a bitter snow drift to the 
hotel, and so to bed. Here is a page from my diary. 

February 6. — The severe cold makes the head ache, 
and stupefies me ultra modum. I wrote to Mr. Hope, 
stating my reasons for declining the great compliment 
of a public dinner intended for me at Toronto. As I 
move about here, I feel that society is much under the 
influence of the unruly fellow, our next neighbour. 



86 . CANADA. 

There is no great love for him; but his prodigious 
kicks aud blows, his threats, his bad language, his size 
and insolence, frighten them up here. There is great 
anxiety for the American news; and I am bound to 
say, the Northern Americans must have done some- 
thing to make the Canadians dislike them, as there is 
little love for them even where little is felt for England. 
I saw a great many of the principal personages to-day. 
Called on the Bishop, whose sweet, benevolent face is 
an index of his mind. He spoke in high terms of his 
Roman Catholic coadjutor ; indeed, it would be difficult 
to quarrel with Dr. Mountain. In education, they 
work harmoniously together. Mr. D'Arcy M'Ghie 
called on me. He is now a member of the Canadian 
Parliament, and is giving his support to the authority 
of the British Crown. His loyalty is, of course, stig- 
matised by some as treason to what they call the cause 
of Ireland ; but I believe the atmosphere of Canada is 
found to have a vapour-dispelling, febrifuge character 
about it which works well on the mind of the Irish 
immigrant. A most entertaining, witty, well-informed 
barrister, also an Irishman, paid me a visit, and gave 
some admirable sketches of Canadian society, of the 
bar, of the working of parties, as well as his own ideas 
on all points, in a peculiarly terse and pleasant way. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Visit the "lions" of Montreal — The 47th Eegiment — The city open to 
attack — Quays, public buildings — French colonisation — Eise of 
Montreal — Stone — A French-Anglicised city — Loyalty of Cana- 
dians — Arrival of Troops — Facings — British and American Army 
compared — Experience needed by latter — Slavery. 



I remained several days at Montreal, examining the 
lions, and making the most of my brief stay. 
Here are living a knot of Southern families in a sort 
of American Siberia, at a very comfortable hotel, who 
nurse their wrath against the Yankee to keep it warm 
and sustain each other's spirits. They form a nucleus 
for sympathising society to cluster around, and so 
germinate into innocent little balls, sleigh-parties, and 
occasional matrimonial engagements. 

" Waiting for his regiment," too, was old General 
Bell — the veteran who saw his first shot fired in the 
Peninsula, and his last, forty-four years afterwards, 
before Sebastopol. There were parades of the 47th 
Regiment and inspection- drills on the St. Lawrence 
in snow-shoes ; and Penn marched out his Armstrongs 
in beautiful order, on their sleighs, for all to see. 

The position of this fine city leaves it open to attack 
from the American frontier, which is so near that the 
blue tops of the mountain ridges of the bordering 
States can be seen on a clean day. The rail from the 



£8 CANADA. 

centre of New York runs direct to it, through the 
arsenal and fort of Rouse's Point on Lake Champlain ; 
and there are two other lines converging on it, so that 
an enormous force could be swiftly sent against it. 
The frontier is here a mere line on the map, so drawn 
as to leave the head of Lake Champlain and Rouse's 
Point in the hands of the Americans. Its importance, 
its beauty, and the feeling of the inhabitants would 
render it tempting to the Northern armies; and the 
fierce, relentless, and destructive spirit which has 
been evoked in their civil war, might lead them to 
destroy all that is valuable and handsome in a city 
which stands in strong contrast to the hideousness of 
American towns, if they were, as of old, obliged to 
abandon the city. 

The quays of Montreal are of imperial beauty, and 
would reflect credit on any city in Europe. They pre- 
sent a continuous line of cut-stone from the Lachine 
Canal along the river-front before the city, leaving a 
fine broad mall or esplanade between the water's edge 
and the houses. The public buildings, built of solid 
stone, in which a handsome limestone predominates, 
are of very great merit. Churches, courthouses, banks, 
markets, hospitals, colleges, all are worthy of a capital ; 
and these would present a very different appearance to 
an invader from that which was offered by the poverty- 
stricken and insignificant Montreal of 1812. 

There are a few guns mounted on a work on the left 
bank of the river above the city, but for military purposes 
the place may be considered perfectly open. There are 
more than 90,000 people in the city, but it is said not to 
be a fighting population ; and there are many foreigners 
and emigrants of an inferior class, who taint the place 



FOUNDATION OP MONTREAL. 89 

with rowdyism. The British element was active in 
volunteering when I was there, and figures in uniform 
were frequently to be seen in the streets ; but the time 
was unfavourable for any public displays, and I never 
saw any of the volunteers working en masse. 

Here, as elsewhere, the jealousies of claimants for 
command, local and personal rivalry, have impeded the 
good work; but such obstacles would vanish in the 
presence of danger. National feeling has tended to 
make the organisation of corps too expensive, and the 
question of drafting for the militia has also interfered 
with the full development of the movement. 

It would be unjustifiable to assert that the enterprise 
of the French people, and their capacity for colonisa- 
tion, have been diminished by republican institutions ; 
but, unquestionably, the great convulsions which have 
agitated society since the fall of the monarchy appear 
to have concentrated the energies of the race upon 
objects nearer home, even though they have annexed 
Algeria, established a protectorate over Tahiti, and are 
engaged in war with the Cambodians. Where is the 
enterprise which, more than 200 years ago, originated a 
company of merchant adventurers, who pushed out 
settlements into this wilderness, and founded factories 
among the Iroquois and the Mohawks ? In those days, 
indeed, the zeal of Jesuits and other Roman Catholic 
missionaries preceded the march and directed the 
course of commerce. 

Montreal owes its existence to a certain Monsieur 
Maisonneuve, the factor of the Commercial Associa- 
tion in 1642. More than 100 years afterwards it was 
nearly destroyed by fire ; and ten years after the con- 
flagration the troops of the insurgent colonies took 



90 CANADA. 

possession of the town, which was a favourite object of 
attack in the two American wars. 

In spite of many misfortunes — fire, hostile occu- 
pation, insurrection, riot — Montreal has nourished ex- 
ceedingly, and the energy of its population has been 
displayed in securing for it a principal share of the 
trade between England and the Upper Provinces. Its 
railway communications have been pushed with great 
energy, and the canals and quays are in imperial 
grandeur ; but still, in case of war with the States, the 
only outlet in winter (by rail to Portland) would be 
effectually blocked up. 

The city contains nearly 100,000 inhabitants, of whom 
60,000 are Roman Catholics — representing a great 
variety of nationalities, with a predominance, however, 
of French-Canadians and Irish. An abundance of fine 
stone, found near the town, has enabled the inhabitants 
to build substantial houses in lieu of the wooden edi- 
fices from which they were driven by two great con- 
flagrations; but the material is of a dull cold grey 
colour, and the streets, seen in winter-time, have in 
consequence a gloomy and melancholy aspect. Many 
of the cupolas and spires and the roofs of many of the 
houses are covered with metal plates, which shine 
out in the sun, and give the city a bright appearance 
from a distance, which is not altogether maintained on 
a nearer approach. 

The mental activity of the population, displayed in 
a large crop of newspapers, doubtless indicates a close 
intimacy with the United States ; but Montreal is, 
after all, French Anglicised, and, notwithstanding the 
disaffection of which it gave symptoms in the rebellion, 
the sympathies of its people are very far removed 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 91 

from the bald republicanism of the New England 
States. 

Nuns and priests seem, to a Protestant eye, to be 
rather too numerous for the good of the people; but 
having seen the schools of the Christian Brothers, and 
having heard the testimony of all classes to the ser- 
vices rendered to morals and religion, to charity and 
to Christianity, by the various religious orders, I am 
forced to believe that Montreal is much indebted to 
their labours. 

The number of hospitals, schools, scientific institutions 
— the libraries, reading-rooms, universities, are remark- 
able. They are worthy of a highly-civilised, wealthy, 
and prosperous community; but, in fact, the economy 
with which they are managed is not one of the least 
remarkable features about the Montreal institutions. 
Party animosities have now been softened : but there 
is no doubt of the satisfaction with which the Liberal 
Canadian points to the fact that those who were impri- 
soned and persecuted by the Government, for rebellious 
acts or tendencies, have since been called to office, and 
have served the Crown in high official positions. 

The people of Canada are learning a useful piece of 
knowledge or two from what is passing so close to them. 
The annexation party are heard no more : in their room 
stand the people of Canada, loyal to the Crown and 
to the connexion, prepared to defend their homes and 
altars against invasion. So far as I have gone, in no 
place in the Queen's dominions is there greater attach- 
ment to her person and authority. 

The Canadians see with sorrow the ills which afflict 
their neighbours, in spite of all the ill-advised menaces of 
the Northern Press ; but they felt naturally indignant 



92 CANADA. 

at being spoken of as if they were a mere chattel, which 
could be taken away by the United States from Great 
Britain in order to spite her. With such turbulent and 
dangerous elements at work close to them, they 
will no doubt eagerly assist the authorities in their 
efforts to secure their borders and their country, by 
putting the militia on a proper footing. The patriotism 
of the Legislature can be relied on to do this. England 
will do the rest, and give her best blood, if need be, 
to aid this magnificent dependency of the same Crown 
as that to which she is herself subject, in maintaining 
the present situation. 

It was most agreeable to hear praise instead of grumb- 
ling, and to know that amid no ordinary difficulties the 
troops were landed and conveyed across the snows 
of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the month of 
January without casualty or mishap worth mentioning, 
and that the arrangements were worthy of every com- 
mendation. It made us feel proud of our army when 
we saw the cheerfulness, soldierly look, cleanliness, and 
deportment of the men, and learnt that they had con- 
ducted themselves in the most exemplary manner, 
though exposed to great temptation by the hospitality 
of the New-Brunswickers and the cheapness of intoxi- 
cating liquors. 

And what wonderful vicissitudes of service those offi- 
cers and men have seen ! Here is a face yet burned by 
the suns of India, encircled in fur-cap, and peering into 
the railway carriage to welcome some well-known 
friend from China or Aldershot. There marches a 
sturdy Guardsman, one of the few who remain of the 
men of Alma and Inkerman, with that small ladder of 
fflorv on his breast. Here is one of the old Riflemen 



OLD CRIMEAN FRIENDS. 9o 

— alas, most gracious Queen ! they feel proud in sad- 
ness of their name now — one of " the Prince Consort's 
Own Rifle Brigade," who heard, that bright evening 
when our good ship was gliding through the blue 
waters of the Dardanelles, the rich chorus of those 
manly voices, most of which are silenced for ever : — 

" Soldiers, merrily march away ! 
Soldier's glory lives in story, 
His laurels are green when his locks are grey, 
Then hurrah for the life of a soldier ! " 

Firm and clean and straight as of yore, under all his 
load of greatcoat, furs, and boots, struts the soldier of 
the 47th, mindful of De Lacy Evans, " little Inkerman," 
and of the greater in which it was eclipsed. Will he be 
as trim and neat, I wonder, if they take away his white 
facings ? Of the old " fours " — the second brigade of 
the division which with the light divided the "general" 
fighting — the 41st and 47 th, though perhaps no better, 
always looked better than the 49th, because of their 
facings. 

The influence of facings, indeed, goes much further 
than that in general society. The hotel in which 
I live (a very attentive host is doing his best to 
complete the resemblance by extensive dilapidations) 
is as like a barracks as can be. The " St. Lawrence 
Hall u is in a military occupation. The obstacles in 
way of "alterations" are bestridden by Guardsmen, 
Riflemen, and Engineers, on their way to breakfast and 
dinner, as if they were getting through breaches. In 
the hall abundance of soldiers, anxious orderlies with 
the quaint quartoes full of orders, and military idlers 
smoking as much as you like, but, I am glad to say, 
not chewing — nor, as a New York paper calls the 



94 CANADA. 

Republican Senators, " tobacco-expectorant." To 
appreciate this boon properly, pray be prepared to 
limit the suffrage immensely. In the passages more 
orderlies and soldier-servants, who now and then do a 
little of what is called flirting with the passing demoi- 
selles de service ; tubs outside in the passage ; doors of 
rooms open a la caserne ; military chests and charts on 
the table. 

It would have given those who admit that war is 
necessary sometimes, as the sole means of redressing 
national grievances, considerable satisfaction to have 
seen the difference presented by the regular troops of 
Great Britain in Canada and the vast masses of volun- 
teers assembled on the Potomac by the United States. 
It is not that the British are one whit finer men : 
taking even the Guards, there are some few regiments 
there which in height and every constituent of physique, 
except gross weight, cannot be excelled. 

As a whole, perhaps, the average of intelligence, 
taken there to mean reading and writing, may be 
higher among the United States volunteers than among 
the British regulars ; — not much, however. The Sani- 
tary Commission of New York, a very patriotic and 
thoroughly American body, did not attempt to claim 
more than three-fifths of the United States armies as 
of American birth. The immediate descendants of 
Irish and German parents are thus included among 
native-born Americans, though they are in all respects 
except birth Irish and Germans still. Very probably 
they have not partaken to the full, or to any great 
extent, of the advantages of public education. 

But, taking the statement of the Commissioners — 
which, by-the-bye, is a very serious reflection on the 



AiniY EDUCATION AND DISCIPLINE. 95 

patriotism of the Northern populations — it may be 
doubted whether in reading, writing, and arithmetic 
there is any great superiority on the part of the United 
States troops over the British. I admit that in some 
regiments of the New England States there is a higher 
average of such knowledge as may enable a man to 
argue on the orders of his officers, and of such intelli- 
gence as may induce him to believe he is competent to 
criticise the conduct of a campaign. 

There is an immense amount of newspaper reading 
and letter-writing, the former taste predominating j 
but our own mailbags are ample enough to satisfy 
any one that the same preponderance which is main- 
tained by London over New York in correspond- 
ence is to be found in the English army over the 
American. Many Irish and Germans here have no 
inducements to write letters, but there are few who are 
unable to read their newspapers. 

What is it, then, one may reasonably ask, which 
would satisfy the grumbler, who finds fault with 
the expenditure of standing armies, that he has got 
value for his money when he contrasts the British 
troops here with the battalions on the Potomac ? It is 
the efficiency produced by obedience, which is the very 
life of discipline : the latter is obedience incorporated, 
and, in motion or at rest, acting by fixed rules, with 
something approaching to certainty in its results. 

The small army in Canada could be massed together, 
with its artillery and transport, in a very short time, and 
directed with precision to any one point, though it is 
a series of detachments on garrison duty rather than 
a corps d'armee, and it has neither cavalry nor baggage 
animals. With all the liberal (if not occasionally ex- 



9b CANADA. 

travagant) outlay, and the cost of transporting it, the 
force in a few weeks would be far less expensive than 
an American corps of the same strength ; and it is no 
disparagement to the latter to say they would be less 
efficient than the British. I do not speak of actual 
fighting ; for our battlefields in Canada tell how despe- 
rate may be the encounters between the armies. Our 
force would be under the orders of experienced officers. 
The staff would consist of men who have seen service in 
the Russian war, in Asia, in India, and in China, and 
who have witnessed the operations of great European 
armies. The United States is laboriously seeking to 
acquire experience, at a cost which may be ruinous to its 
national finances, and a delay which may be fatal to its 
cause ; but it cannot galvanise the inert mass with the 
fire of military efficiency, though it burns, we are told, 
with hidden volcanic energies, and is pregnant with 
patriotic life. The use of an army in war is to fight, to 
be able to move to and after its enemy, to beat and to 
pursue him. 

It is not greatly to be wondered at if the work, 
which Great Britain has only partially accomplished, 
notwithstanding the greatness of its progress, should 
be only begun in the United States. The aptitude of 
a large mass of the inhabitants for arms, whether they 
be foreign or native-born, is marred by many things. 
There is the principle of equality intruding itself in 
military duty, confounding civil rights with the relations 
between superior and inferior — between officer and rank- 
and-file. There is the difficulty of getting men to 
follow officers who have no special fitness for their post. 
A soldier may be made in a year ; a company officer 
cannot be made in three years. There are many 



TRAINING OF OFFICERS. 97 

officers in the American army of great theoretical and 
some practical knowledge ; there are many in the 
British army lazy and indifferent j — but no one would 
think for a moment of comparing the acquirements, in 
a military sense, of the officers of the two nations. 

In the Crimean war, when our army was enlarged at 
a time that severe losses had much diminished the num- 
ber of officers, we saw that our standard was consider- 
ably lowered by the precipitate infusion of new men. 
No wonder, then, that the United States had and has 
great difficulty in procuring officers of the least value 
for a levy of more than half-a-million of volunteers. 

But the system itself is a most formidable barrier to 
success. Under no circumstances can it reach a mode- 
rate degree of efficiency, unless the test of subsequent 
examination be rigidly enforced. There is no supe- 
riority of rank, of military knowledge, of personal 
character, of social position, to create an emulation in 
the mind of the private to be the obedient but daring 
equal of the officer in the time of danger. To such 
general remarks there are many and brilliant exceptions. 

In the course of time, the personal qualities and the 
reputation for bravery and skill of officers would stand 
in the Republican armies in lieu of those influences 
which move the British soldier. No one is foolish 
enough to think or say that the private follows his 
officer because the latter has paid so much money for 
his commission or has so much a year. The gradual 
rise from one rank to another is a guarantee of some 
military knowledge — at all events, of acquaintance with 
drill. Social position counts for much. Men who are 
equal before the law are very unequal in the drill-book. 

It would be lamentable to see so much faith in a 

n 



98 CANADA. 

cause, such devotion, zeal, boundless expenditure, and 
splendid material comparatively lost — to behold the 
petted Republic wasting away under this influence, and 
the vis inertia of the force it has called into being, were 
it not that the spectacle is a lesson for the nations. 
It has not yet come to its end. 

If standing armies there must be, let them be as 
complete in organisation as possible. If an empire must 
rely on volunteers as its main defence, let care be taken 
that they are organised and officered so as to be effective, 
and regulated on such principles of economy that they 
may not overwhelm with debt the country they are 
engaged in protecting by their arms. 

It is quite true that the Confederates suffer from the 
same disadvantages as those which affect the Federals, 
but in a far less degree. Mr. Davis, early in the war, 
got hold of the army and subjected it to discipline. It 
was not so difficult to do so in the South as in the 
North, owing to the difference in the people. The 
officers were appointed by him. The men were ani- 
mated, as they are now, by an intense hatred of their 
enemy. Their armies were in a defensive attitude; a 
large number, comprising some of the best, of the 
United States officers sided with them. They are 
operating besides on the inner lines. 

But, after all, if the possession of the seaboard, the 
use of navies, the vast preponderance of population, the 
ability to get artillery and arms, and the occupation 
of the heads of the great river communications be not 
utterly thrown away, the North must overrun the 
South, if only the Northerners can fight as well as 
the Southerners, and if the North can raise money to 
maintain the struggle. 



SLAVERY. 99 

Let us leave ont of view the slave element for once. 
The Abolitionists assert that the most formidable weapon 
in the United States armoury is the use of the emanci- 
pated slave ; but it is rather difficult to see how the 
slaves could assist the North as long as they remain 
obedient and quiet in the South, or how the North can 
get at them by a mere verbal declaration till it has con- 
quered the Slave States. Above all, it is not clear that 
it would benefit the penniless exchequer of the North 
to have 4,000,000 black paupers suddenly thrown on it 
for support. 

Slavery is to me truly detestable ; the more I saw 
of it the less I liked it. It is painful, to one who 
has seen the system at work and its results, to read 
in English journals philosophical — pseudo-philosophical 
treatises on the subject, and dissertations on the " ethics 
and aesthetics " of the curse, from which we shook our- 
selves free years ago with the approbation of our own 
consciences and of the world. 

Before I speak of the defence of Montreal in con- 
nection with the general military position of the 
Canadian frontier, I shall continue my brief narrative 
of my tour through Canada. 



H 2 



CHAPTER VII. 

First view of Quebec — Passage of the St. Lawrence — Novel and rather 
alarming situation — Russell's Hotel — The Falls of Monttnorenci, 
and the " Cone" — Aspect of the City — The Point — " Tarboggining " 
— Desci'iption of the " Cone " — Audacity of one of my companions 
— A Canadian dinner— Call on the Governor — Visit the Citadel — 
Its position — Capabilities for defence — View from parapet — The 
armoury — Old muskets — Red-tape thoughtfulness — French and 
English occupation of Quebec — Strength of Quebec. 

It was early in the morning when the train from 
Montreal arrived at Point Levi on the right bank of 
the St. Lawrence, a little above Quebec. The impres- 
sion produced on us by the heights of Abraham, by the 
frowning citadel, by the picturesque old city glistening 
in the sun's rays, and by the great river battling its 
way through the fields of ice and the countless minia- 
ture bergs, which it hustled upwards with full-tide 
power, can never be effaced. 

It required some faith to enable one to believe the pas- 
sage could be made by mortal boat of that vast flood 
from which the crash of ice sounded endlessly, as floes 
and bergs floating full speed were dashed against each 
other — flying fast as clouds in a wintry sky up the 
river, the banks of which resembled the sheen sides of an 
Alpine crevasse. The force of the stream is so great 
as to rend through and rupture the coat of ice which is 
thickened daily, and the masses thus broken, tossed 
into all sorts of singular shapes, jagged and quaint, are 
borne up and down by the flood till they are melted 



THE ST. LAWRENCE. 101 

by the increasing warmth of spring. An ice bridge is 
occasionally formed by the concentration of the ice in 
such masses as to resist the action of the water, and 
then sleigh horses cross by a path which is marked 
out by poles or twigs stuck in the snow, but it more 
usually happens that the river opposite Quebec remains 
unfrozen, and offers the singular spectacle of the ice 
rushing up and down every day as the tide rises and 
falls, to the great interest and excitement of strangers 
who have to cross from one side to the other. 

At first the attempt seems impracticable. The deep 
blue of the St. Lawrence can be only seen here and there 
through the bergs and floes, like the veins beneath a 
snowy skin, but those glints are for ever varying as 
the ice passes on. The clear spaces are no sooner 
caught by the eye than they are filled up again, and 
every instant there are fresh refts made in the shifting 
surface, which is at once as solid as a glacier and as 
yielding as water. In this race the bergs are carried 
with astonishing force and rapidity, and a grating noise ; 
and a grinding, crashing sound continually rises from 
the water. 

At the station there was a goodly crowd of men 
in ragged fur coats and caps, pea jackets, and long 
boots, of an amphibious sort, who did not quite look 
like sailors, and who yet were not landsmen. These 
were clamouring for passengers, and touting with 
energy in a mixture of French and English. " Prenez 
notr' bateau, M'sieu' — La Belle Alliance ! Good boat, 
Sar ! Jean Baptiste, M'sieu' : I well known boat- 
man, Sir." " The blue boat, Sir, gentleman's boat, 
Mon Espoir," " L'Hirondelle," and so on at the top of 
their voices. And sure enough there, drawn up on the 



102 CANADA. 

snow near the station, was a range of stout whale boats, 
double planked on the sides, and provided with re- 
markably broad keels. 

We selected, after a critical inspection, the captain of 
one of these — a merry-eyed, swarthy fellow, with a big 
beard and brawny shoulders — as our Charon, and fol- 
lowing his directions we were stowed away in a sort of 
well between the steersman and the stroke oar, where 
we sat down with our legs stretched out very com- 
fortably, and were then covered up to the chin with 
old skins, furs, and great coats. When all was ready, 
a horse was brought forward with a sling bar, to which 
a rope was attached from the bow, and we glided for- 
ward along the road towards the most favourable point 
for crossing at that stage of the tide. The boat was 
steadied and guided by the crew, who ran alongside 
with their hands on the gunwales. Houses by the road 
side snowed up — shop windows with French names — 
sallow-faced, lean people looking out of the grimy win- 
dows — some large ships on the stocks, roughly placed 
on the river bank — these met the eye as we passed over 
the snow road towards the point opposite the city now 
looming nearer. With cheap timber and labour it is 
not surprising that the ship-building trade of Quebec 
flourishes. 

For more than a mile and a half the boat careered 
eastwards, in active emulation with several other boats 
which were in our track, and the citadel on the opposite 
shore already lay behind us, before the horse was de- 
tached at the side of a deep incline leading to the river, 
and in another moment the boat was gliding down the 
bank and rushing for a blue rent in the midst of the 
heavy surface, into which we splashed as unerringly as 



BOAT ADVENTURE. 103 

a wild duck drops into a moss hole. The moment the 
bow touched the water, all the crew, some seven or 
eight in number, leaped in and seized their oars, which 
they worked with a will, whilst the skipper, standing 
in the bow, directed the course of the steersman. 

We were now in a basin of clear water surrounded 
quite by ice, which only left the tops of the small bergs 
and the high banks on each side visible to us seated 
low down in the boat ; and as we looked the floes were 
rapidly closing in upon us ; but the skipper saw where 
the frozen wall was about opening, and forced the boat 
to the point of the advancing and narrowing circle, in 
which suddenly a tiny canal was cleft by the parting 
of the bergs, and the opportunity was instantly seized 
by the boatmen. 

The ice was already closing and gripping the 
timbers as soon as we had fairly entered, and in an 
instant out leaped the crew on the treacherous surface, 
which here and there sank till they were knee-deep, 
and by main force they slid the boat up on a floe, and 
rocking her from side to side as a kite flutters before it 
makes a swoop, they roused her along on the surface 
of the ice, which was floating up towards the city very 
rapidly. With loud cries to a sort of chorus, the crew 
forced the craft across the floe till they floundered in 
some half-frozen snow, through which the boat dropped 
into the water. Then in they leaped, like so many 
Newfoundland dogs coming to land, all wet and furry, 
took the oars again, and rowed across and against the 
tide-set as hard as they could. Now in the water, then 
hanging on by the gunwales, this moment rowing, in 
another tugging at the boat ropes, clambering over 
small ice rocks, running across floes, sinking suddenly 



101 CANADA. 

to the waist in the cold torrent, the men battled with 
the current, and by degrees the shore grew nearer, and 
the picturesque outlines of the city became more 
distinct in the morning sun. 

What with the extraordinary combinations and 
forms of the ice drifts, the inimitably fantastic outlines 
of the miniature ice architecture, and the novelty of 
the scene, one's attention was entirely fixed on what 
w r as passing around, and it was not till we had nearly 
touched land that we had time to admire the fine effect of 
the streets and citadel, which, rising from the icy wall 
of the river-bank, towered aloft over us like the old 
town of Edinburgh suddenly transplanted to the sea. 

We found an opening in the blue cold water-rocks 
near the Custom-house Ian ding- wharf, at which place 
there was a shelving bank ; a stout horse was at- 
tached to the boat by a rope, on which the crew 
threw themselves with enthusiasm ; and in a few 
seconds more we were on the quay, and thence pro- 
ceeded to Russell's Hotel, which was recommended to 
us as the best in the place. One may find fault with 
American hostelries; but assuredly they are better 
than the imitations of them which one finds in Canada, 
combining all the bad qualities of hotels in the States 
and in Europe, and destitute of any of the good ones. 

The master of the hotel was an American, and he had 
struggled hard " under the depressing influences of the 
British aristocracy" to establish an American hotel, and 
he only succeeded in introducing the least agreeable 
features of the institution ; but the attendants were 
civil and obliging, and there was no extravagant pressure 
on the resources of the place, so that we fared better 
than if we had been down south of the frontier. Even 



THE FALLS OF MONTMORENCI. 105 

the landlord, though not particularly well disposed 
towards one so unpopular among his countrymen as 
myself, yielded so far to the genius loci as to be civil. 
The rooms were small, and not particularly clean ; but 
as painting and papering were going on, those who 
follow me may be better provided for. 

A short rest was very welcome ; but what fate is like 
that which drives the sightseer ever onwards, and forces 
him, with the rage of all the furies, from repose ? " The 
Falls of Montmorenci were but a drive away, and the 
' Cone ; was in great perfection." 

"What is 'the Cone?'" The effect of our ignorance 
on the waiter was so touching — he was so astonished 
by the profound barbarism of our condition — that we 
felt it necessary for our own character to proceed at 
once to a spot which forms the delight of Quebec in 
the winter season, and to which the bourgeoisie were 
repairing in hot haste for the afternoon's pleasure. 

A sleigh was brought round, and in it, ensconced in 
furs, we started off for the Falls, which are about eight 
miles distant. It was delightful to see anything so old on 
this continent as the tortuous streets of the city, which 
bear marks of their French origin, after such a long 
contact as I had endured with the raw youth of American 
cities in general, but it was impossible to deny that the 
antiquity before us had a certain air of dreary staleness 
about it also. The double-windowed flat-faced houses 
had a lanky, compressed air, as if they had been starved 
in early life, and the citizens had the appearance of people 
who had no particular object in being there, and set no 
remarkable value on time. A considerable sprinkling 
of priests was perhaps the most remarkable feature in 
the scene, and occasionally knots of ruddy-faced rifle- 



106 CANADA. 

men, in all the glory of winter fur caps and great coats, 
disputed the narrow pavement, alternating with the 
" red " soldiers of the line. 

The city is built on very irregular ground, and some 
of the streets are so steep that it is desirable for new 
comers to have steel spikes screwed into the foot-gear to 
combat the inclination to proneness on the part of the 
wearers. Emerging through a postern in the ancient 
battlemented wall we came out in an uninteresting 
suburb of small houses, from which a descent led to 
the margin of the water. Par as the eye could reach a 
vast snow plain extended, with surface broken into 
ridges, mounds, and long dark lines, and dotted with 
opaque blocks from which the church steeples sprung 
aloft, indicating the sites of villages. The ridges were 
the hills over the St. Lawrence, the mounds its islands, 
and the lines its banks, which expand widely on the 
left to embrace the sweep of the St. Charles Lake, on 
which stands the projecting ledge of the eastern part of 
the city. 

As we approached the Lake, over which our route lay, 
black specks, which were resolved into sleighs, or men 
and women on foot, were visible making their way 
over the ice, which was marked by lines of bushes and 
branches of trees dressed up in the snow so as to indi- 
cate the route, and far away similar black specks could 
be made out crossing the St. Lawrence below, which 
has now become the great highway. Eut not a very 
smooth road. The surface is far from being level, and 
consists indeed of a succession of undulations in which 
the profound cavities sometimes give one a sense of inse- 
cure travelling. 

On the whole, however, the expedition was much 



THE CONE. 107 

to be enjoyed, the air was bracing, and the cold 
not intense, and the scene " slid into the soul " with 
all its deep tranquillity. Doubtless it produced a very 
different effect on the red-nosed Britons who were 
keeping watch and ward on the ramparts of the citadel, 
or on the poor " habitant " trudging patiently beside 
his sleigh-load of wood, and knowing that snow is his 
portion for the next five months. 

On our right a continuous movement of white 
rugged masses, to all appearance like a stream of 
polar bears, betokened the course of the unfrozen St. 
Lawrence ; on our left rose the high bank of the lake 
over which we were travelling, and cottages of the 
villagers ; before us the sleighs were streaming to- 
wards a point which ran out into the river and beyond 
which there seemed to be a shallow bay. This was the 
point at which the Montmorenci river, recovering from 
its fall, expanded into a broad sheet at its junction with 
the greater river. Here we arrived in about an hour. 

At the Point there were a few houses, some vessels 
imbedded in the snow, and piles of sawn timber and deal 
planks, and a great concourse of sleighs ; and beyond it, 
looking up to the left, at the distance of some half-mile, 
we saw a glistening sugarloaf of snow, on the summit of 
which the creaming, yellow-tinged mass of the Falls ap- 
parently precipitated itself from the high precipice which 
bars the course of the stream. On the snow between 
us and the sugarloaf, and up the white sides of the 
latter, little black objects were toiling with small pro- 
gress, but at intervals one of them, gliding from the top 
of the cone like a falling star in the Inferno, rushed 
prone to the base, and thence carried by the impetus of 
the descent skimmed over the ice towards us for 



108 CANADA. 

hundreds of yards, like a round shot till its force 
was spent. 

Of the crowd gathered at the Point nearly every one 
had the small hand-sleigh, something like a tiny truck 
with iron runners, under the arm, known in the verna- 
cular as a " tarboggin," of the derivation of which it is 
better to confess ignorance. A few were provided with 
sleighs of ampler proportions, and all the visitors were 
bent on tarbogginiug it, either from a shoulder of 
the Cone or from the summit of the mass itself. 

As we approached over the snow the natives, men and 
women, flew past us on their way after a rush down 
the Cone, shouting to the bystanders to take care. 
Sometimes two were together, the lady seated on the 
front part of the machine, the man behind lying on his 
face with his feet stretched out so as to guide the sleigh 
by the smallest touch against the ice. At a distance 
the pleasure-seekers looked like some hideous insects 
impelled towards us with incredible velocity. As they 
came near and flew past, the expression of their coun- 
tenances by no means indicated serene enjoyment. 

Near the Cone itself a crowd of " tarboggin " hirers 
and guides beset us and guaranteed a safe descent, but 
it seemed a doubtful pleasure at best, and there was 
some chance of breaking limb, as we were told happened 
frequently during the season. We ascended to the 
lower shoulder of the Cone by steps in the snow and 
gazed on the scene with some curiosity. Not only 
were the people launching themselves from the Cone, 
but more adventurous still there were who, climbing 
up the steep side of the precipice, tarboggin under arm, 
at last reached some vantage snow, by the side of 
the Pall, where they threw themselves flat on the 



THE FALLS. 109 

sleigh, and then came rushing down with a force 
which carried them clear up the side of the lower 
ledge of the Cone and over it, so that they were 
once more plunged downwards and were borne off to- 
wards the St. Lawrence. 

It could now be very plainly seen that the Falls 
fell behind the Cone into a boiling turbulent basin, 
which fretted the edge of the ice and repelled 
its advances. Although much diminished in volume the 
body of water, which makes a leap of 250 feet down a 
sheer rock face into the caldron, was sufficiently large 
to present all the finest characteristics of a waterfall, 
but it was at times enveloped in a mist of snow, or 
rather of frozen spray, which blew into eyes, mouth, 
ears, and clothes, and penetrated to the very marrow of 
one's bones. And it is of this ever-falling frozen rain 
the Cone is built, and as the winter lengthens on the 
Cone grows higher and higher, till in favourable seasons 
it reaches an altitude of 120 feet. It is as regular as 
the work of an architect, and, I need not say, much more 
beautiful. At present it had not attained its full 
growth, and was only 80 feet in height — but its 
symmetry was of Nature's own handiwork. The Falls 
are in a narrow concave cup of rock crested with pine 
forests, and its sides now forbid the ascent, which is prac- 
ticable in summer time by a series of natural steps in the 
strata. The waters cover this young cone with wings of 
spray and foam, and flittering, tremulous, and unsub- 
stantial as they are, it is nevertheless from their aerial 
vapours that the solid and sturdy ice mountain grows up. 

Of its substantial nature we had an excellent proof — 
of a human, practical kind : for, obeying many invita- 
tions, we walked along a snow path which led to a portal 



110 CANADA. 

cut in the solid oxide of hydrogen, and entering found 
ourselves in a hot and stuffy apartment excavated from 
the body of the Cone, in which there was an Ameri- 
canised bar, with drinks suited to the locality, and as 
much want of air as one would find in a house in the 
Fifth Avenue of New York. It was full of people, who 
drank whiskey and other strong waters. 

I know not by what seduction overcome, but, some- 
how, so it happened, that one of my companions, on 
our return to the outer air and light, was led to sacrifice 
himself on a tarboggin, and yielded to a demon guide. 
I watched him toiling on, with painful steps and 
slow, doggedly up the path towards the slippery sum- 
mit, and, when he had gained it, I slid down below 
to observe the result of the experiment, and judge 
whether it looked pleasant or not. He was but an 
item among many, but I knew he was among the braves 
des braves, and had received a baptism of fire in the 
trenches of Sebastopol, which had rained a very font 
of glory in India, and scarcely paled in China. I 
watched him assuming the penal attitude to which the 
young tarbogginer is condemned, and after a balance 
for a moment on the giddy height, his guide gave a 
kick to the snow, and down like a plunging bomb flew 
the ice-winged Icarus. He passed me close ; I could 
see and mark him well. Never, to judge from facial 
expression, could man have been in deadlier fear. With 
hard set mouth, staring and rigid eyes, and aspect 
quite antipathetic to pleasure, he careered like one vrko 
is falling from a house top, and his countenance had 
scarce assumed its wonted placid look when I met 
him gasping and half faint. And yet he had the 
astounding audacity to say, " It was delicious. Never 



CANADIAN FEELING. Ill 

had a more delightful moment/' when he came back 
pale and panting from his flight. 

We returned from the Falls by a hilly, rough road 
over the bank of the Lake, and arrived at our hotel in 
time to dress for dinner, to which I was invited at the 
house of a Canadian gentleman, I think an Englishman 
by birth, who entertained us right hospitably. 

There is a wonderful calm in the conversation of 
the Canadians, perhaps a little too much so, but it is a 
relief from the ambitious restlessness of the common 
American. The Canadian mind suffers as the mind of 
every country which is not a nationality must suffer, 
and caution assumes the place of enterprise. If the 
Americans knew the business of diplomacy a little 
better, and could but restrain the democratic vice of 
boastful threatening and arrogant menace, they could 
have alienated Canada from our cold rule long ago, 
even though Canada would have lost by the change 
many privileges and a cheap protection to her industry, 
commerce, and social expansion. 

February 10^. — To-day I paid my respects to His 
Excellency the Governor, Viscount Monck, and pro- 
ceeded to visit the citadel, which is now occupied by a 
battalion of the 60th Rifles under Colonel Hawley. 
Independently of the historical associations which 
attach to this commanding-looking work, I was 
attracted to it by the consideration that it has twice 
saved Canada to Great Britain. I am bound to say 
that, in my poor opinion, it will never do so again, if 
left in its present condition. The works, once strong, 
have lost much of their importance since the intro- 
duction of long-range artillery, and the armament is 
in a very imperfect condition, consisting of old- 



112 CANADA. 

fashioned pieces of small calibre, which could furnish 
no reply to a battery established on the heights 
across the St. Lawrence. 

The citadel itself has in its construction some of 
the points of a regular fortress after Vauban, and on 
the river side the parapets tower aloft from a steep 
rock, which puts one in mind of the site of the plat- 
form at Berne; but on the east side it is hampered 
by houses and by the suburbs of the city; and it 
could be approached without much difficulty from the 
other side, as soon as a lodgment could be effected 
on the heights of Abraham. The fosses and ditches 
were partially filled with snow, which obscured the 
ground and the adjacent country, if such whiteness can 
obscure anything. Colonel Hawley was good enough 
to show us over the works and point out the objects of 
interest as far as they could be discerned. Among 
them were some ancient iron guns on which Great 
Britain ought not to rely for very effective service in 
the defence of the place. 

But some new heavy guns have recently been 
mounted, others are to follow, and as the ordnance 
stores in Canada will soon be replenished with the best 
description of pieces, there then need be no appre- 
hension for Quebec on the score of weak artillery : or 
for a position that is the key of Quebec, which is most 
emphatically the master-key of Canada. 

The outworks of the citadel itself, however, are not by 
any means in a satisfactory condition; even the high 
parapet overlooking the lower town might be crumbled 
away and expose the interior of the place ; in one par- 
ticular part of this work the guns are masked h% blocks 
of houses, the windows of which actually look into the 



THE ABMOUBY. 113 

interior of the citadel, and the fire of the place could 
be so impeded, and the defence so cramped by 
the existing enceinte, that I very much doubt whe- 
ther it would not be better to remove the latter 
altogether. 

We trudged patiently around the long lines of 
parapet in the snow, now looking down upon the 
river clamorous with its burden of ice, and on the 
tortuous streets of the old-fashioned town. In sum- 
mer and in the open months the St. Lawrence is 
thickly studded with ships ; and dense forests of masts 
line the course of its banks ; but now the only speci- 
men of commercial enterprise on its bosom consisted 
of a few canoes struggling backwards and forwards ' 
through ice and water with their scanty freights. 

Inside the citadel, cherry-cheeked riflemen were play- 
ing like schoolboys in the snow. In spite of tempta- 
tion the regiment was in good condition ; and although 
in modern days some objection might be taken to the 
closeness of their quarters in summer, the British 
soldiers who served under Wolfe would have been 
greatly astonished if they could have seen the comforts 
enjoyed by, and the cares bestowed on, their de- 
scendants. Even those much-neglected, injured Pene- 
lopes, the soldiers' wives, are tolerably well off in their 
quarters, somewhat too crowded, it is true, but still 
more comfortable than at Aldershot or the Tower. 

After a long march along the parapet, in which I 
stumbled across more rotting gun-carriages, useless 
mortars, and bad platforms than I care to mention, 
we visited the Armoury, which is near the parade- 
ground of the citadel. The stock of firearms is 
arranged with great taste, and the cleanliness and 



114 CANADA. 

effectiveness of all the material reflected credit on the 
storekeeper. 

Some of the contents consisted of very interest- 
ing rifles of renowned makers in former days, with 
carved stocks, flint locks, and barrels encrusted with 
gold, intended as presents to Indian chiefs and war- 
riors of tribes sufficiently strong to cause us injury 
by their hostility or render us service by their alliance. 
Old flint-lock muskets of inferior quality, with barrels 
like so many feet of cast-iron piping, intended for the 
indiscriminate destruction of friend or foe; horse- 
pistols of the fashion in vogue one hundred years 
ago, and the like, were to be found in the same 
spacious apartment, which contained specimens of the 
most recent improvements in firearms. Formerly flint 
pistols were served out to the frontier patrols, but 
of course percussion locks have, for many years, 
been given to all those employed in the service 
of the Crown in a military capacity. Some worthy 
official at home, however, still continues to send out 
barrels of flints with laudable punctuality, as he has 
not been relieved by superior order from the necessity 
of keeping up the supply of these articles. We have 
all heard of the forethought evinced by the home 
authorities, when they sent out water- tanks for our 
lake flotilla, forgetting that they were borne on an 
element quite fit for drinking. But I heard in the 
citadel of a still more remarkable instance of thought- 
fulness. 

A ship arrived at Quebec some time ago with an 
enormous spar reaching from her bowsprit to her 
taffrail consigned to the storekeeper. It had been the 
plague of the ship's company, it had been in every- 



RED-TAPE THOUGHTFULNESS. 115 

body's way, and had nearly caused the loss of the 
vessel in some gales of wind. The whole resources of 
the quarter-m aster-general's department were taxed to 
get it safely on shore, and transport it to the heights. 
And what was it ? A flag-staff for the citadel. And 
what was it made of? A stout Canadian pine, which 
had probably been sent from the St. Lawrence in a 
timber ship to the government officials at home ; who, 
having duly shaped and pruned it into a flag-staff, 
returned it to the land of its birth at some considerable 
expense to John Bull. 

The citadel is of no mean extent, but covers 
about forty acres of ground, and necessarily requires a 
very strong garrison ; if they were exposed to shell or 
vertical fire from the opposite side of the river, or from 
the western side of the place, as there is no defence 
provided, they would certainly suffer great loss. It 
is obvious that a permanent work must be built at 
Point Levi, to sweep the approaches and prevent the 
establishment of hostile batteries on the river. A 
regular bastion with outworks should be constructed 
on the heights above the point, in order to make 
Quebec safe. 

There are also dangers to be apprehended from the 
occupation of the railway terminus at Riviere du Loup 
which do not affect Quebec immediately, but are, 
nevertheless, to be carefully guarded against. In the 
event of war appearing imminent, a temporary work 
to cover the terminus on the land side, and sweep 
the river, would be necessary. 

There exist the remains of some outworks in advance 
of the citadel, which are so well placed that it would be 
very desirable to reconstruct defences on their sites. 

i 2 



116 CANADA. 

They are called the French works, and their position 
does credit to the skill of the engineer who chose it. 

The British flag has waved for just 102 years from 
Cape Diamond, but the Fleur-de-lys had fluttered on 
the same point for 220 years, with the exception of the 
three years from 1629 to 1632, when Sir David Kirke 
placed Quebec in our hands. 

Nothing proves the inaccuracy of artillery in those 
days more strikingly than the inability of the French, 
on Cape Diamond, to prevent the British transports 
landing their men at Point Levi, although the St. 
Lawrence is little more than 1000 yards broad opposite 
the citadel. By our bombardment, however, we nearly 
laid Quebec in the dust before the action. 

On account of the very natural remembrance of the 
glory of "Wolfe's attack, his death and victory, it has 
almost been forgotten that our first attempt to land 
at Montmorenci was repulsed by Montcalm with the 
loss of 500 men; and it was only when the original 
scheme failed, that Wolfe conceived the plan of re- 
embarking his troops, and landing above the town. He 
had 8000 regular troops; the French had 10,000 men, 
but of these only five battalions were regular French 
soldiers. Montcalm believed no doubt that he could 
drive the British into the river, or force them to sur- 
render, and he threw the force of his attack on the 
British right, which rested on the river. The French 
right, consisting of Indians and Canadians, was easily 
routed ; the French left, deprived of the services of its 
general and of his second in command, was ultimately 
broken, and fled towards the town, covered in some 
degree by the centre battalions, which fell back steadily ; 
nor was it till five days after the battle that Quebec fell 



WOLFE — MURRAY — ARNOLD. 117 

into our hands. The fire must have been exceedingly 
close and desperate ; and its effects speak well for the 
efficiency of old Brown Bess at close quarters, for out 
of the force engaged, the British lost over 630, and the 
French 1500, of whom 1000 were wounded or taken 
prisoners. There was little artillery engaged ; for we 
had but one, and the French but two or three pieces 
on the heights. A very few months afterwards we had 
nigh lost that which we had so gallantly and fortunately 
gained. 

On the 28th April next year, General Murray, fol- 
lowing the example of Montcalm, and depriving himself 
of the advantages which a position inside the walls 
of Quebec would have given him, moved out on the 
heights of Abraham, with 3000 men and twenty guns, 
to oppose the French under the Chevalier de Levi, who 
were moving down upon the city. In an ill-conceived 
attack on the enemy, Murray lost no less than 1000 
men and all his guns, and had to retreat to the city. 
He was only relieved by the arrival of a British 
squadron in the river, which compelled the French to 
retire with the loss of all their artillery. 

Looking down upon the narrow path below the 
parapet, one must do credit to the daring of Arnold, 
Montgomery, and the Americans in their disastrous 
attempt to carry the citadel by an escalade. Arnold, 
after his astonishing march and desperate perils by the 
Kennebeck and Chaudiere — which has been well styled 
by General Carmichael Smyth one of the most won- 
derful instances of perseverance and spirit of enterprise 
upon record — followed the course pursued by Wolfe ; 
and embarking at Point Levi, occupied the heights of 
Abraham, but when Montgomery joined him from 



118 CANADA. 

Montreal, it was found they had no heavy artillery. 
Thus they were forced either to march back again, or 
to try to carry the place by storm. Two columns, 
led by Arnold and Montgomery, endeavoured to push 
through the street at the foot of the citadel, one from 
the east and another from the west. 

The Canadians say, that after Montgomery carried 
the entrenchment, which extended from the foot of the 
cliff to the river, he rushed at the head of his column, 
followed by a group of officers, towards a second work, on 
which was mounted a small field-piece. The Americans 
were just within twenty yards when a Canadian fired 
the gun, which was loaded with grape. Montgomery 
and the officers who followed him were swept down in 
a heap of killed and wounded, and the column at once 
fled in confusion. Arnold, who had forced his way into 
the houses under the citadel, was carried back wounded 
soon after his gallant advance : and the Canadians 
again claim for one of their own countrymen, named 
Dambourges, the honour of having led the sortie from 
the citadel which charged the Americans, and forced 
those who were not slain to surrender. 

Certainly the Canadians showed upon that occasion, 
as no doubt they would again, a strong indisposition 
to fraternise with the American apostles of liberty, 
equality, and fraternity; they harassed their com- 
munications, and, under their seigneurs, cut off several 
detachments. The attempt on Quebec was never 
repeated ; and the Americans fared but ill in both 
their Canadian campaigns. 

A well-organised expedition made in winter-time 
would now be attended with far greater danger than 
it was in former days, and if the snow remained in 



STRENGTH OF QUEBEC. 119 

good condition, artillery, provisions, and munitions of 
war could be transported with greater facility than 
on the ordinary country roads. Quebec would, under 
these circumstances, be deprived of the co-operation of 
the fleet ; but with the improvement in the defence 
which would be effected by the erection of a regular 
work at Point Levi, and by the alterations indicated in 
the citadel itself, Quebec would be in a position to 
resist any force the Americans might direct against it, 
and would have nothing to fear except from regular 
siege operations, which there was no chance of inter- 
rupting or raising. It would be most important to 
have the feelings of the inhabitants enlisted on our 
side. I fear there is reason to believe that they are 
antagonistic to the Americans, rather than violently 
enamoured of ourselves. 

Having enjoyed a view from the Flag-staff Tower, 
350 feet above the river, which in summer must be one 
of the grandest in the world, and which even now was 
fall of interest, my visit to the Citadel was terminated 
by lunch in the mess-room, and I returned homewards 
through the city. I was encircled with people enjoying 
the keen bright air, though the thermometer was 
twenty degrees below freezing point. 

Not the least interesting to me of the people were the 
habitans in their long robes gathered in round the waist 
by scarlet or bright-coloured sashes, with long boots, and 
fur caps, and French faces, chatting in their Old- World 
French ; and the monks, or regular clergy, who moved 
as beings of another age and world through the more 
modern types of civilisation — such as fast officers in 
fast sleighs, and the Anglicised families in their wheelless 
caleches. I had the honour of an invitation to dine at 



120 CANADA. 

the club called Stadacona, which is a corruption or 
modification of Indian words signifying "the site of 
a strait," where I met a number of the citizens of 
Quebec at an excellent substantial dinner, which had 
far more of English tastes than of French cookery about 
it. The conversation did not disclose any symptoms 
of the tendency towards iVmericanisation which the 
Northern journals are so fond of attributing to the 
people of Canada ; but it was perceptible that a war 
with America was regarded as an evil which could only 
fall on Canada because of her connection with Great 
Britain, and that Great Britain ought therefore to take 
a main part in it. The Canadians are proud of the 
part borne by De Salaberry and others in the former 
war; but, greatly as the country has advanced, I doubt if 
there is now such a population of ready, hardy fighting 
men as then existed : for most of the hunters, lumberers, 
and nomad half-castes, who cannot be called settlers, 
have been absorbed in cultivated lands and settled 
habits. The appointment of British officers to orga- 
nise and command the volunteers has given offence ; 
and I think it would be advisable, if not necessary, in 
case of actual war, to let the volunteers choose their 
officers within certain limits, and to give the authorities 
corresponding to our lords-lieutenant of counties power 
to name the commanding officers of corps, under the 
sanction of the Governor-General. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Lower Canada and Ancient France — Soldiers in Garrison at Quebec — 
Canadian Volunteers — The Governor-General Viscount Monck — 
Uniform in the United States — A SleighiDg Party — Dinner and 
Calico Ball. 

I am afraid that in this Lower Canada just now 
we do but occupy the position of a garrison. The 
aspect and the habit of the popular mind are foreign, 
but they are not French any more — at least modern 
French ; rather are they of an Old- World France — of a 
France when there was an ancient faith and a son of 
St. Louis; when there was a white flag blazoned with 
fleur-de-lys, and a priesthood dominant — a France 
loyal, chivalrous, and bigoted, without knowledge and 
without railways, content to stand on ancient paths, 
and hating reform and active mutation. What a 
change has occurred since the old Bourbon struck 
the medal with its inscription, "Francia in Novo Orbe 
Victrix, Kebeca Liberata. 1690." There may be many 
in Canada who cannot forget their origin and their 
race, kept alive in their memories by a common 
tongue, ancient traditions, and antipathy to a foreign 
rule exercised from a far-off land, and sometimes 
manifested by rude, rough instruments, and by a 
mechanism of force; but it would be well for them to 
remember that, whilst France has passed through many 
convulsions, Canada has been saved from external and 



122 CANADA. 

internal foes, with the exception of the American in- 
vasion in 1812, and the troubles caused by her own dis- 
affected people at a later period, whilst as an appanage 
of France she must have undergone incessant anxieties 
and assaults. She has been spared the agonies of the 
Revolution, the exhaustive glories and collapse of 
the Empire, the reaction of the " Desired one" — the 
consequences of the convulsions of 1830, of 18^8, 
of 1852. Great Britain, too, is bound to remember that 
she is dealing with a brave and ancient race, delivered to 
her rule under treaty, who have, on the whole, resisted 
many temptations, and preserved a firm attachment to 
her government in the face of an aggressive and pro- 
sperous Republic. Our soldiers must be taught to 
respect the people of Canada as their equals and fellow- 
subjects — a hard lesson perhaps for imperious islanders, 
but not the less necessary to learn, if we would pre- 
serve their attachment and our territories. 

In justice to them I must say that the 60th Rifles 
gave no occasion to the people to complain, though 
Quebec is not destitute of its " rough" fellows, and of 
provocations; and that during my stay in Canada I 
only heard of one instance in which officers or men 
could be accused of indiscretion or want of respect for 
the people. Whiskey is shockingly cheap and atro- 
ciously bad, and public-houses are only too numerous, 
so that the base upon which the evils which afflict the 
soldier rest is not wanting here any more than at 
home. 

A garrison rule must be very galling unless the 
officers and men are minded to behave themselves, 
and it would cause me regret if my observations of 
some regrettable circumstances in that relation were 



DINNER AT LORD MONCK's. 123 

confirmed by larger experience. Of course the 
peasants are provoking; they are heavy and coarse, 
relying on their vis inertia, and aggressively passive. 
The other day, for instance, when Lord Monck was 
leading his sleigh party, several country carts came 
down from the opposite direction in the deep track, 
and it was with the utmost difficulty the driver of our 
party avoided collision with them, as the habitans 
would not get out of the way. Still one does not like 
to see young Greenhorn of the Invincibles flicking up 
the bourgeoisie with his whip as he whisks round a 
corner, for not getting out of the way. A gallant 
captain of volunteer artillery complained greatly of 
matters of this kind, but he also expressed very unrea- 
sonable jealousy respecting the appointment of English 
officers to superintend, and organise, and command 
the force. 

February 11th. — Still more snow falling, and the cold 
sharper than ever. Visited the Parliament Houses and 
Library, of which more hereafter; saw the Ursuline 
Chapel; called on Mr. Cartier, Mr. Macdonald, Mr. 
Cauchon, and Mr. Gait, members of the Ministry, to 
whom I had introductions. In the evening dined with 
the Governor- General and Lady Monck at Government 
House. Although His Excellency has been but a short 
time in the country, and succeeded an able, energetic 
man, he has already gained the confidence of men diffi- 
cult to win, and gives fair promise of administering the 
affairs of the provinces with sagacity and vigour. It 
occurred to me, considering the position of Canada, that, 
to escape from the consequences of divided views and 
command, it would be desirable to have the military 
and civil administration in one hand at critical junc- 



124 CANADA. 

tures, or to send out a soldier as Governor-General. 
To be a good soldier one must be gifted with the 
faculties which constitute a good ruler, and the civilian 
can only possess those same qualities minus the special 
knowledge of the professional military man. Lord 
Monck, however, has applied himself with ability and 
zeal to the consideration of the provincial defences. 
X The table of the Canadian Viceroy was elegant and 
hospitable ; and it was a relief to the eye to catch such 
semblance of state as was afforded by the scarlet 
uniforms and gold lace of the aides-de-camp, military 
secretary, and others of His Excellency's household, 
who were at dinner, after the long monotony of 
American black. Not but that now and then uniform 
was creeping in at private dinner-tables in the States 
also, principally on the persons of foreign-born officers. 
But it is, or rather it was, opposed to the custom of 
the country. 

I remember Mr. Seward telling me one day, when 
we met in Washington, that it was contrary to eti- 
quette for a foreigner to wear the livery of his royal 
master or mistress in the United States. Soon after- 
wards I saw at table a colonel in full uniform of the 
French infantry; but, on inquiry, I learned he was 
in command of a New York regiment composed of 
his exiled compatriots ; and a very gallant regiment — 
in spite of its Anglophobia, loudly expressed during 
the Trent affair — it proved itself. Even here let me 
tell a story. When the colonel in question, who had 
been for many years a journalist in New York, ap- 
peared in Washington, after getting his commission, he 
repaired to the house of an astute and witty diplomatist, 
with whom he had an ancient intimacy. " Ah ! my 



A SLEIGHING PAETY. 125 

dear colonel," exclaimed the Minister,, " by accepting 
the command of your regiment, you have cut short the 
friendship of ten years." " How is that, Excellence ? " 
" Why, how can we ever meet again as of yore ? I 
cannot dine with you; for how dare I present 
myself in your camp ? " " Why not, Excellence ? " 
11 Why, my dear friend, do you think I could ever get 
my hair dressed well enough to please the five hundred 
French coiffeurs in your regiment ? " " But, at all 
events, my dear Minister, I can come and dine with 
you ! " " Impossible, my friend ! How could I venture 
to ask a man to dinner who has under his orders five 
hundred French cooks ! " 

More snow. The landlord is rather impressed with 
the news that the Union army is positively about to 
march on Richmond at once ; and, indeed, it is only 
the sceptical mind, with some knowledge of facts, that 
can resist the effect of the constant iteration of false- 
hoods in the American papers, which never loses its 
influence on the American mind. 

February 12th. — Notwithstanding a slight fall of white 
rain, Lord Monck had a sleighing party to Lorette, an 
Indian village, where we repaired in great force, ladies 
and gentlemen, furred and muffed, and enjoyed ourselves 
greatly, lunching in a very pleasant rustic sort of 
auberge, half-buried in the snow. These sleighing 
parties render a Canadian winter tolerable, and 
there is a certain degree of " chance of being 
lost" which commends them to the adventurous and 
forms a theme for many small stories. On our 
coming home, we had nigh experienced one of these 
mild adventures, for the snow fell again and ob- 
scured the face of the country — a very white and 



126 CANADA. 

well-washed face indeed, with no remarkable features 
in it, — and it was by chance we got on the track 
at a certain turn in the road, which was only marked 
out by the summits of the submerged fences and 
hedges peering over the drift, and looking uncommonly 
like each other all over the country. This little ex- 
perience of travel rather dispelled notions I had of 
the great practicability of a winter campaign, for it 
would be quite impossible to move guns and troops with 
certainty in a country where all movements depended on 
the snow not falling, in opposition to the probability 
that it would do so. 

The officers of the 60th Rifles entertained His 
Excellency at dinner in the evening, and I had the 
honour of being invited to meet him. The entertain- 
ment took place in the mess-room of the citadel. Little 
more than a century ago, M. de Montcalm may have 
been dining on the same spot with the regiment of 
Musketeers of Guienne. Who may dine there in 1962 ? 
The evening was ended at a " calico " ball for the benefit 
of the poor of the city, which was attended by the 
townspeople only, the ladies being dressed in calico, 
which was afterwards, I believe, with the receipts, dis- 
tributed to the indigent. 

February 13th. — Accompanied Mr. Bernard, who 
kindly placed his knowledge and good offices at my 
disposal, to see some of the lions of the city ; and, thus 
ably conducted, I visited the Parliament Houses, the 
Library, the Ursuline Convent, the Rink, and many 
other places ; I dined in the evening with Mr. Gait, the 
Finance Minister, whom I had the pleasure of meeting 
at "Washington some time before. Mr. Cartier, the head 
of the Administration, and nearly all the Ministers, 



DINNER AND BALL. 127 

were present. Afterwards attended a ball at Mr. 
Cauchon's, one of Mr. Gait's colleagues, which was 
an assemblage of the elite of the old French society of 
the place. My companions left me to-day for England, 
where one was anxious to take his seat on the opening 
of Parliament, and the other went with him, I suppose, 
for companionship's sake. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Canadian view of the American Struggle — English Officers in the 
States — My own position in the States and in Canada — The 
Ursulines in Quebec — General Montcalm — French Canadians — 
Imperial Honours — Celts and Saxons — Salmon Fishing — Early 
Government of Canada — Past and Future. 

Whilst I was in Quebec the American papers ceased 
not to record great Union successes, impending expe- 
ditions, and, as is their wont, to throw out hints of 
some inscrutable woe conceived by the head of Stan- 
ton, and to be wrought by the arm of McClellan on 
the South. " Jeff. Davis going to Texas or Mexico — 
The neck of the rebellion broken — Our young Napoleon 
preparing for the last grand campaign." Many of our 
officers were very anxious to visit the Federal armies, 
but the tone of the Northern press was so exceedingly 
virulent and insulting toward Englishmen, that the 
authorities, mistaking their license for the real opinion 
of Americans, discouraged applications for leave as much 
as possible. This was to be regretted; the more so that 
those officers who went from Canada to the States 
were not provided with any official letters, and were, 
indeed, in some instances, misguided so far as to con- 
ceal their military character. It could not but have 
been most useful to our officers to have been enabled 
to take fair measure of the system and capability of 
an American army, North or South ; to have formed 
an estimate of their generals and of the value of their 



BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 129 

several arras — cavalry, artillery, and infantry, each of 
which presented conspicuous examples of what to 
avoid, more especially the first, whilst the second had 
peculiar features worthy of study, and the third was 
a very wonderful illustration of the volunteer prin- 
ciple. 

When I represented the importance of sending 
officers to the armies for the special purpose of exa- 
mining and reporting on their condition, I was met 
by the reply that it would be a violation of neutrality 
to dispatch commissioners to the Federal army, unless 
similar officers were sent to the Confederate head- 
quarters; and that it would not be possible to adopt 
the latter step, as the. Washington Government would 
not grant them leave to go through the lines, and 
would resent the proposal. When some officers were 
at last dispatched with an official sanction to the army 
at Yorktown, they made their appearance in a forlorn, 
destitute, and helpless condition, which -made their 
companions in arms blush for them. 

For myself, I had every reason to believe that no ob- 
jection would be made to ray accompanying the army 
under General McClellan. Several senators who had 
given me their good wishes, were most desirous that 
I should be able to set off an account of a victory 
against the narrative of the retreat from Bull Run. 
Although I had been recovering a little from the 
effects of the ludicrous and malignant falsehoods cir- 
culated against me up to the Trent affair, I was tres 
mal vu in some quarters in Washington, and of course 
I was included in the general outburst against all 
British subjects with which the surrender of Mason 
and Slidell was accompanied. 



130 CANADA. 

In Canada I had recovered health and spirits ; nay, 
more — some small shreds of popularity in the States. 
The secretaries of literary institutions renewed their 
requests for lectures, the autograpli hunters sought the 
post-office once more with their flattering though ill- 
spelt missives; but there was no inducement to return 
to the States till the army of McClellan was actually 
about to take the field. The exploits of the army of 
the West had, indeed, attracted my eyes in that direc- 
tion. The capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson 
promised well for its future career, but if I travelled 
so far out of my way I should have lost my chance of 
seeing the most brilliant and important campaign. 
The chief interest was certainly concentrated on the 
Potomac, and in the operations against Richmond. 
The West was far away, and it would have been a 
chance against my letters reaching home so as to anti- 
cipate the exaggerated illusions of the New York 
journals. And so I quietly waited and watched till 
the news from the States became so triumphant and 
decided that it behoved me to return, lest some im- 
portant movement should take place on the Potomac. 
As I could not be with more than one army, I then 
resolved to follow the fortunes of McClellan's great 
host, which indeed was regarded by Americans them- 
selves with the greatest anxiety. And so, after a few 
days, I set about leaving cards and paying farewell visits 
to those who had so kindly entreated me in the City of 
the Strait. 

The learned institutions, the libraries, the machinery 
of education, the various literary and scientific asso- 
ciations, and the admirable seminaries of Quebec, are 
most creditable to the community; they would place 



THE URSULINES. 131 

that city on a level with some of the most learned of 
European cities of far greater antiquity ; and the public 
spirit and intelligence of its citizens have been fully 
evinced in the aid and support they have rendered to 
institutions designed for the spread of knowledge. 

The public buildings have also the stamp of re- 
spectable antiquity upon them ; none of them possess 
any considerable architectural merits, but several are 
exceedingly interesting. Constant fires have proved 
nearly ruinous to the buildings erected by the 
original settlers ; and those which have been subse- 
quently built are not remarkable for beauty — indeed, I 
may say that the Laval University is one of the plainest 
buildings it has ever been my lot to behold. 

On all side3 it is admitted that the nuns of the 
Ursuline Convent have conferred the greatest benefit 
upon the city by their unceasing devotion to the 
task of education. Many people of respectability — 
Protestants as well as Catholics — send their children 
to be educated by these excellent women, representing 
the system inaugurated more than 200 years ago by 
Madeleine de Chauvigny, who, moved by grief for the 
loss of her husband to devote herself to Heaven, and 
to the spread of the Christian faith, sailed forth from 
France, and, landing at Quebec, established schools for 
the Indian girls to learn the faith of the white race, 
which was destined to destroy their own. 

The Ursuline Convent is a massive building, ugly as 
most convents of modern date are, standing amidst the 
houses of the city. The day I visited it there were no 
means of seeing the schools, and I was obliged to be 
content with a sight of the chapel instead. On ringing 
the bell by the side of a massive iron-bound door, I 



132 CANADA. 

was admitted to the front of a grille, through which I 
conveyed my wishes to the unseen lady who demanded 
the purport of my visit j and, after a short delay, the 
clergyman attached to the service of the church was 
ready, and an old Swiss or porteress conducted me to 
the entrance of the chapel, which is of large size, of 
no pretensions to architectural beauty, and of little 
interest to me for anything but the fact that within 
its walls lie the bones of Montcalm. 

The Ursulines, however, are of opinion that they 
have got a collection of paintings of merit, and I was 
called upon to admire some extraordinary specimens 
of art very nearly approaching the class denominated 
daubs, which were not recommended even by antiquity. 
Although the priest bore a pure Irish patronymic, he 
had never been in the British isles, having been edu- 
cated in France, where he was born, whence he came 
out to Canada in the course of his ministry. He was 
an agreeable, intelligent, gentlemanly man, but he had 
evidently no faith in the pictures, and probably not 
much greater in some other remarkable decorations 
exhibited within the holy walls. The altar-piece and 
two or three subjects belonging probably to the old 
convent, rescued the collection from entire condemna- 
tion. 

On the wall of the chapel, on the left-hand side from 
the entrance, there is a marble slab, on which are 
engraved the following words : " Honneur a Montcalm ! 
Le destin en lui derobant la victoire Fa recompense par 
une mort glorieuse ! " The graceful words are due to 
Lord Aylmer. Montcalm received his death- wound 
from a ball fired by the only piece of artillery which 
we could get up the heights; but like his great rival 



MONTCALM. 1 38 

and conqueror he was wounded in the fight by a 
musket-shot at a comparatively early stage of the 
battle. Like "Wolfe, too, Montcalm loved literature : 
u egalement propre aux batailles et aux academies, son 
desir etait d'unir aux lauriers de Mars les palmes de 
Minerve." 

The following is a translation of the inscription and 
epitaph written by the Academy of Inscriptions and 
Belles Lettres of Paris in 17 61; and inscribed on a 
monument which that body had designed to erect in 
Quebec, but which never reached that city, the vessel on 
which it had been embarked having been lost at sea : 

" Here Lieth 

In either hemisphere to live for ever, 

LEWIS JOSEPH DE MONTCALM GOZON,? 

Marquis of St. Ve'ran, Baron of Gabriac, 

Commander of the Order of St. Lewis, 

Lieutenant-General of the French army ; 

not less an excellent citizen than soldier, 

who knew no desire but that of 

true glory; 

Happy in a natural genius, improved by literature ; 

Having gone through the several steps of military honours 

with an uninterrupted lustre ; 

skilled in all the arts of war, 

the juncture of the times and the crisis of danger; 

In Italy, in Bohemia, in Germany, 

an indefatigable general : 

He so discharged his important trusts, 

that he seemed always equal to still greater. 

At length, grown bright with perils, 

sent to secure the province of Canada, 

with a handful of men, 

he more than once repulsed the enemy's forces, 

and made himself master of their forts, 

replete with troops and ammunition. 

Inured to cold, hunger, watching and labours, 

unmindful of himself, 



134 CANADA. 

lie had no sensation but for his soldiers : 

An enemy with the fiercest impetuosity ; 

a victor with the tenderest humanity ; 

adverse fortune he compensated with valour; 

the want of strength with skill and activity ; 

and, with his counsel and support, 

for four years protracted the impending 

fate of the colony. 

Having, with various artifices, 

long baffled a great army, 

headed by an expert and intrepid commander, 

and a fleet furnished with all warlike stores, 

compelled at length to an engagement, 

he fell — in the first rank — in the first onset, 

warm with those hopes of religion 

which he had always cherished; 

to the inexpressible loss of his own army, 

and not without the regret of the enemy ';>, 

XIV September, A.D. MDCCLIX. 

Of his age, XLVIII. 

His weeping countrymen 

deposited the remains of their excellent General in a grave 

which a fallen bomb in bursting had excavated for him, 

recommending them to the generous faith of their enemies." 

Had his counsel been taken by de Vaudreuil, we 
never could have occupied Point Levi, and in all pro- 
bability tlie expedition to Quebec would have failed. 

There is something exceedingly touching in the 
death of the two generals in the same battle. My 
guide, however, was more interested in calling my 
attention to the ornaments of the altar, and to a skull, 
which he assured me was that of Montcalm. 

" Through each lack-lustre eyeless hole, 
The gay recess pf wisdom and of wit, 
And passion's host that never brook' d control/' 

was seen filled with dust, and the priest held in his 
hand, like a cricket-ball, the home of the subtle intel- 



THE FRENCH CANADIANS.. 135 

lect of the man who raised to sucli a height the power 
of France in the western world. When the old Indian 
chief told Montcalm — "Tu. es petit ! mais je vois dans 
tes yeux la hauteur du chene et la vivacite des yeux des 
aigles," how little the politic, gallant Frenchman ever 
thought his skull would be kept in a box in a priest's 
cupboard, and shown as a curiosity to strangers from 
that barbarous Britain. 

I cannot say that the priest succeeded in pointing 
out anything as interesting among the pictures as even 
the skull of the Marquis de Montcalm. 

So far as I can ascertain, no Canadian painter has 
yet been inspired by the faith and devotion which 
wrought such miracles and wonders in mediaeval 
Europe, to concentrate his talents on church pictures. 

There is not much good fellowship between the 
French Roman Catholics and their Irish co-religionists ; 
and I was told that few of the latter ever entered the 
chapel of the Ursulines, though they constitute an 
appreciable proportion of the population. The Cana- 
dians, indeed, retain a good deal of the old French 
sentiment, and regard the Irish very much as their 
ancestors, under St. Ruth, looked on the poor vassals 
of the Irish Jacobins. The Irish are, however, more 
energetic and restless, and do not lose by comparison 
with the unenterprising inhabitants. 

The feelings and faith of the French Canadian tend 
to keep up all that is French in his nature. Small 
wonder that it should be so. But it may be doubted 
whether he has much sympathy with the Empire, 
though he is proud of the glory and renown attained 
by the parent stock under the " Great Gaul " who 
founded it. 



136 CANADA. 

In visiting the beautiful and well-ordered Library 
of the Houses of Parliament, the state of which does 
honour to the excellent curator, I observed several very 
handsome volumes of the most costly works marked 
with the French imperial cipher. They had, it ap- 
peared, been presented to the Canadian Parliament by 
the Emperor Louis Napoleon, and they were pointed 
out to me with much pride and pleasure ; but I looked 
in vain for any such outward and visible sign of favour 
and policy on the part of the reigning House in Eng- 
land. The conduct of France towards Canada in 
former times, if not always just to the settlers, was 
indeed exceedingly liberal to the landed interest ; on 
one occasion some sixteen country gentlemen were 
raised to the French peerage. The most a Canadian 
can hope for now is a barren baronetcy or the honours 
of the Bath. By conferring on our colonies, depen- 
dencies, and provinces very liberal democratic forms of 
government institutions, and at the same time refusing 
to give the counterpoise which an extension of the 
aristocratic system to them would bestow, we hasten 
the coming of the day when separation becomes in- 
evitable. When separation takes place, the difference 
of institutions begets opposition of views and of policy, 
distrust, and, finally, collision. 

One of my New York acquaintances, who professed 
to be somewhat of a philosopher, said, one day, he was 
quite sure the colonies never would have revolted, no 
matter how high tea was taxed, if the king had made 
a few of the leading Americans peers of the realm. 
The dream of an Imperial Senate with representatives 
from all the portions of the wide-spread territories of 
Great Britain may excite the imagination, but it is 



IMPERIAL HONOURS. 1S7 

not likely to be ever realised. The honours which 
have been conferred on such men as Sir Etienne Tache 
and Sir Narcisse Belleau, are highly prized, and a 
more liberal bestowal of the cheap defence of nations 
would do much to gratify the reasonable ambition of 
the Canadians. 

That there should be some— and not a little — jealousy 
of foreign interference and usurpation of places, profits, 
and honours, by the English families, is not unnatural. 
I am not persuaded that it was right to hand over the 
whole direction of the volunteer and militia organisation 
to British officers, who are by the many often identified 
with the last noisy ensign who has been playing pranks 
in the Rue de Montagne. The remembrances of the 
old rebellion have not altogether died out, but it 
appeared to me that the Canadians are a mild, trac- 
table race, fond of justice, a little too fond of law, and 
quite content to live under any rule which secured 
them equal rights, and gave them facility for moderate 
litigation and religious exercises. 

While I was in Quebec some foolish young men 
stormed a house under a misapprehension as to its cha- 
racter. The same thing might have happened in Great 
Britain ; it would have excited no feeling — the perpe- 
trators might have compounded for their folly, or have 
suffered the penalty. Here the matter was hushed 
up, and some of the Canadians were vexed and angry. 
Provincials must necessarily be jealous of the smallest 
appearance of disrespect or show of distinctive justice 
between the two races. 

There are very few persons in England acquainted 
with the many ancient and glorious memories which 
endear Quebec to the French Canadians. Jacques 



138 CANADA. 

Cartier is to them a greater discoverer and navigator 
than Captain Cook is to us, and a long list of names 
thoroughly French illustrate the early history of the 
city. De Frontenac, Le Chevalier de Levi, Damhourges 
and others are not known to those who are well ac- 
quainted with Wolfe and Montcalm. 

Quebec, though doubtless the oldest city existing on 
the continent, is in a very different condition from that 
in which it was for many a year after it was founded by 
Champlain, more than two centuries and a half ago. 
It is quite delightful, after a sojourn in the United 
States, to ramble through the tortuous streets, lined 
by tall narrow-windowed houses with irregular gables, 
even though an air of something like decay has settled 
upon the place. There is no trace in Quebec of the 
feverish activity of American cities — no great hotels 
nor eager multitudes thronging the pavements ; but in 
summer the quays present a most animated appearance, 
for the noble waters of the St. Lawrence are then laden 
with stately ships, and traffic is carried on extensively 
in the exchange of the exhaustless forest-produce of 
the back country for the manufactures of Europe. 

The Indian squaws and their people have well-nigh 
vanished from the scene, and it would almost seem as 
though they w r ere unfit to learn the doctrines of Chris- 
tianity — it is certain they had not qualities to permit 
of their flourishing in the midst of Christians. Other 
coloured races brought in contact with the white man 
have saved themselves from extermination by service ; 
but the individual Indian is feudatory to no man — he 
says " Ich Dien " to no created being. The result is, 
that, slowly and surely, he is driven further and further 
out into the waste, or is caught up in the waters of 



CELTIC AND SAXON CANADIANS. 139 

civilisation, and held, like the fly in amber, as a curious 
instance of the incompatibility of one substance with the 
surrounding particles of another. He will never again 
play a part in any contest which may take place 
between the British and Americans; notwithstanding 
the efforts made by the Confederates to use the 
Southern Indians in the present war, no adequate 
results have been obtained for the trouble. 

In the War of Independence the Indians served on 
both sides, but the odium of employing them in the 
first instance against the colonists must undoubtedly 
rest on the British ministry of the day. 

Although the distance from Montreal to Quebec, 
taking the course of the river, is but 180 miles, there 
is considerable difference in climate. The scenery 
around the capital of the Lower Province, and the 
present seat of Government, is more elevated and 
picturesque ; but the quality of the soil is not so 
favourable to agriculture. The habitant is a very 
different being from the Scotch or English farmer; 
he regards with aversion agricultural implements of 
the new school, and woos the earth to yield its fruits 
with the most simple appliances ; he is stubborn in 
his attachment to antique customs, and if he has most 
of the virtues, he assuredly has some of the faults of a 
purely rural agricultural population. 

The events of the rebellion induced us, perhaps, 
to underrate the military capacity of the French 
Canadians, but they may point with pride to the deeds 
of their ancestors in defence of their soil against 
American invasion, and they would, no doubt, main- 
tain in the field the reputation of the race from which 
they spring. The great defect of the native is, perhaps, 



140 CANADA. 

liis want of enterprise. He rarely emigrates to new- 
scenes of labour, and even the inhabitant of the town 
shrinks from an encounter with the active American or 
Anglo-Saxon. Thus it is, at the present moment, that 
nearly all the agricultural and industrial enterprises of 
Lower Canada have originated with or been developed 
by persons of a different stock. Want of capital is the 
great evil which afflicts the inhabitants of both Cana- 
das, and even the oil-wells and gold mines have, to a 
large extent, fallen into the hands of the solid men of 
Boston, and of the hard men of New England; but 
the Canadians would behave in the face of an enemy 
with the spirit, courage, and conduct which they have 
exhibited on their own limited battle-fields. 

It would be of little value, within the limits of this 
volume, to attempt a recapitulation of the principal 
events of Canadian history, either in connection with 
its early founders or with the English government ; but 
surely the materials are not wanting for an interesting 
record of the struggles of the enterprising Europeans 
who contended so fiercely with barbarous races and 
an inclement clime to found what already promises to 
be a great nation. The savage has died out, or he has 
been civilised into a degraded creature for whom no 
place seems left at the great table of nature, and the 
civilised man his successor has learned to control and 
mollify the influences of climate, and to extort from the 
soil fruits in abundance. But Canada is by no means 
as cold as it has been painted, or rather, it would be 
more proper to say, the cold there is not so intolerable 
as we think. It would astonish many people in this 
country to learn that the Northern States of America 
suffer more from cold than does the vast frontier region 



SALMON FISHING. 141 

of Canada which borders on the Lakes. In Iowa, for 
instance, the cold is more intense than at Montreal. 
Grapes and peaches ripen on the Canadian shores of 
the great lakes; plums, melons, tomatos, and apples 
thrive and grow to perfection in the provinces. As 
cultivation advances the rigour of winter is appre- 
ciably diminished, although the farmers, with that cus- 
tomary want of submission to the will of Providence 
which characterises all people who live in dependence 
on the seasons, complain that the frost is not as severe 
as it was in the good old times, and that they are 
deprived of the advantages of long-enduring snow 
and rigid winters. 

What glorious visions of shooting now and of fishing 
in spring had opened before me, if the Federal army 
would only stay quiet ! Not, indeed, that there is 
much sport for the rifle or fowling-piece now left in 
this part of Canada in winter, except moose, for which 
I did not care much, but that such strange scenes 
could be visited and described. In open weather there 
is a little shooting of quails, partridges, and ground 
game; before winter sets in there is plenty of wild ducks, 
but it is in fishing that the province is most tempting. 
The Godbout, uncertain as it is, would tempt any 
fisherman to a pilgrimage — a river in which one man, 
Captain Strachan, played and landed forty-two salmon 
and grilse in two half-days. But then the black-flies 
and musquitoes ! Well, of this more hereafter. 
Though little that more must be, as long as there is 
such a guide-book as that of Dr. Adamson — the charm- 
ing, amiable, and accomplished gentleman, in whom I 
was rejoiced to recognise the type of le vrai geniilhomme 
irlandais; who knows every thing that ever was done 



142 CANADA. 

or thought by Canadian salmon, and is ever willing to 
impart his knowledge. 

To a young officer fresh from a Mediterranean or 
home station — unless he were at Aldershot or the 
Curragh, perhaps — Quebec must appear rather dull. 
He has none of the excellent sporting for great and 
small game which India affords. Society presents itself 
under a new aspect. A people speaking a different 
language are not his servants, nor his kith and kin, and 
yet he must protect and fight for them. He has no 
sympathy with a nationality which is prouder of Mont- 
calm than of Wolfe, and which claims, nevertheless, 
the lions and the harp as " notre drapeau" So if he 
be unwise and unreasonable, he takes dislikes and 
ascribes every inconvenience he endures, not to the 
policy of the mother-country he serves, but to the 
people of the province. 

I was present one evening at a ball given by one of 
the ministers, a French Canadian, at which there was 
a large assemblage of all the best people in the city, 
and I was struck by the absence of young officers, 
although many of higher rank were present. A lady, 
to whom I mentioned the circumstance, said, u Oh ! 
they rarely come among us, so we have left off' asking 
them. If they do come, they stand with their backs 
against the wall criticising our style and our dresses, 
and never offer to dance till supper is over, when they 
vanish." This is by no means universally applicable 
to all societies or regiments, but it is no doubt the 
truth in some instances. 

One must regret that the English language was not in- 
troduced into the law courts and legislature. Experience 
proves that there are no instruments so powerful in sus- 



EARLY GOVERNMENT. 1 pj 

taming the existence of a nationality, as the tongue 
and pen. The Canadians of to-day affect to be French, 
more because they speak a French at which Paris 
laughs, than from any real sympathy founded on 
mutual interests or present history between France 
and Canada. I was assured by one earnest Canadian, 
that France had never forgiven the Bourbons for the 
fault of Louis XV., in ceding Canada to Great Britain. 
He had more reason probably for asserting that, but for 
the establishment of our supremacy in 1765, the rebel- 
lion of the thirteen colonies of North America would 
not have occurred when it did. But the conquest by 
Wolfe, confirmed by treaty, put an end to most cruel 
and barbarous massacres, outrages, and petty border 
wars, between the French and English settlers and their 
auxiliary tribes of Indians, and if it had been attended 
or followed by any wise and liberal acts of government, 
must have produced very great results on the tone and 
temper of the Canadian mind. 

It would have been wonderful indeed, if, a century 
ago, when our statute book was written in blood, when 
our fellow-subjects at home were under the ban of 
religious disability, and beaten to the earth' beneath the 
weight of penal enactments, any traces of wisdom had 
been exhibited in the management of a distant depen- 
dency. Keeping alive the feelings of a distinct nation- 
ality by the powerful machinery of different national 
laws and customs, the conquerors ruled the province 
by military law for more than ten long years; but the 
tempest which agitated the American colonies was 
already felt in the air. The ministry, anxious only to 
drain money from their distant dependencies, were 
engaged in devising taxes, whilst the colonists prepared 



144 CANADA. 

to vindicate, by force of arms, their great principle, 
that representation was the basis of taxation. The 
two Acts of 1774 were passed to enable the govern- 
ment to raise revenues for the maintenance of the 
local government, and for the appointment of a council 
of government, nominated by the Crown. By the 
capitulation of Quebec, the free exercise of their 
religion was accorded to the Canadians. By the Act 
of 1774, the Roman Catholic Church was recognised as 
established, and the "Coutume de Paris " accepted as the 
foundation of civil and equity administration. 

Is it not strange that Great Britain should have ac- 
corded such concessions to Roman Catholics and colo- 
nists, when the penal system was most rigorously 
enforced in Ireland? But is it not stranger still, 
that the people of the American colonies, who were 
about to set themselves up as the children and the 
champions of freedom of faith and conscience, should 
have taken bitter umbrage at those very concessions ! 
The Americans of the North bore an exceeding ani- 
mosity to the French Canadians. They remonstrated 
in fierce, intolerant, and injurious language with the 
people of Great Britain, for the cession of these 
privileges to the Canadians, and the Continental Con- 
gress did not hesitate to say that they thought " Parlia- 
ment was not authorised by the constitution to es- 
tablish a religion fraught with sanguinary and impious 
tenets." 

In a strain of sublime impudence, considering the 
work they were ready for, the same Congress also 
expressed their astonishment that Parliament should 
have consented to permit in Canada, " a religion that 
has deluged your island with blood, and dispersed 



THE GERM OF REPUBLICANISM. 145 

impiety, bigotry, persecution, murder, and rebellion 
through the world." 

It may be worth while to notice the fact that the 
first notion of united action on the part of the British 
Xorth American colonies may have been developed by 
the British government, and that the idea of indepen- 
dence was suggested by the very recommendations to 
self-defence which came from the mother country. 
The Convention of Delegates at Albany in 1754, which 
met in consequence of the advice tendered by the 
Home Government, adopted a federal system, which 
contained, in effect, the germ of the United States. 
Though this and similar propositions were not enter- 
tained, the growth of such an idea must have been 
rapid indeed. In the British Colonial system there was 
the breath of life — a little fanning, and the whole body 
was alive and active. In the Canadian system there 
was only the animating spirit of dependency on France, 
and on a system in France, which was perishing before 
the sneers of the new philosophy. 

The French Canadians of the present day, in accusing 
the British government of a hundred years ago of 
want of liberality and foresight in the administration 
of their newly acquired territory, are wilfully blind to 
the sort of government which they received from the 
Bourbons. The dominion of a foreign race, however, 
is always galling, be it covered ever so thickly with 
velvet, and all its acts are regarded with suspicion and 
dislike. The concessions and liberality of the British 
government which drew forth such indignant protests 
from the bigoted New Englanders, was ascribed to 
fears of Canadian revolt, or to a selfish desire to con- 
ciliate the good-will of subjects who might become 

L 



146 CANADA. 

formidable enemies. If England lost the American 
colonies because she refused to accept a principle 
which, however sound and just, was certainly new and 
not accepted as of universal application, she needed 
not to apprehend the recurrence of a separation, 
forcible or peaceable, of Canada on any such grounds. 
It is impossible for a country to be held by a more 
slender cord; and in all but the actual exercise 
of the sovereign style, title, and attributes, Canada is 
free and independent. If the sentiment or the nation- 
ality of the Lower Canadians ever induces them to 
seek the protection or rule of any European State, they 
will no doubt at once come into collision with Upper 
Canada and the United States, and we can but pity 
their infatuation. If Upper Canada thinks to better 
herself by separation, and union with the Western 
States, Great Britain assuredly will never hold her by 
force. It would be useless to discuss the rights and 
obligations of a sovereignty and its nominal depen- 
dency in relation to mutual succour in time of war ; 
but it seems only fair that the great permanent works 
necessary for strategical purposes, and as points oVappui 
for the forces of the protecting military power, should 
be made and repaired and garrisoned at the imperial 
expense, whilst on the mass of the population must be 
placed the task of rising to defend their country from 
invasion, assisted by such imperial troops as can be 
spared from the occupation of the fixed points of 
defence. The Canadians must not content themselves 
with the empty assertion that if their country should 
be invaded Great Britain alone is attacked. Let them 
emulate the Old England colonies, and the conduct 
of their ancestors in 1812. The United States bear 



FUTURE COMBINATIONS. 147 

them no good will ; and as the only power from which 
Canada has anything to fear, the Americans would be 
just as likely to make war against the Province as 
against the Empire, and trust to their own impreg- 
nability, except at sea, as a guarantee against any dan- 
gerous consequences. 

The future is beyond our ken. There are prophets 
who long ago predicted the amalgamation of the Upper 
Province with the West, and who now find greater hope 
for the realisation of their soothsayings in the ap- 
proaching dissolution of the Federal States. Others 
there are who see at no distant time the re-establish- 
ment of a French dependency on the northern portion 
of the Anglo-Saxon States, already hemmed in on the 
slave border by the shadowy outlines of an empire 
under French protection. When we see what has 
taken place on that continent within the last hundred 
years, it is not to be said that combinations and occur- 
rences much more wonderful will not come to pass 
before the present century closes. The policy of a 
State, as the duty of an individual, is to do what is right 
and leave the future to work out its destiny. 



L 2 



CHAPTER X. 

Canadian Hospitality — Muffins — Departure for the States — Desertions 
— Montreal again — Southerners in Montreal— Drill and Snow Shoes 
— Winter Campaigning — Snow Drifts— Military Discontent. 

Although my residence in Quebec was very short, I 
left the city with regret. Compared with the cities 
of the States, its antiquity is venerable and its ways 
are peace; but from what I heard of public amuse- 
ment in summer time I should say that life here 
would be found dull, as compared with existence in a 
European capital, or in a city so vainly gay and pro- 
fitably festive as New York. There is no great wealth 
among the people, but a moderate competency is largely 
enjoyed, and neither wealth nor poverty attains undue 
dimensions. 

I found at Quebec a very agreeable society, the tone 
of feeling which prevails in a capital, the utmost hos- 
pitality. Had I had a hundred mouths they would 
here all have been kept busy. Invitations came in 
scores, and were to be resisted with difficulty. Know- 
ing all this I am the more astonished at the recent 
statements which I have heard, that the Canadians 
have not extended any civilities to our officers. If so, 
a great change must have taken place. I am not now 



DEPARTURE FOR THE STATES. 149 

talking of sleighing parties, but of the hospitality of 
the inner house. The fair Canadians may have been 
too kind in accepting the name and position of " muf- 
fins " from the young Britishry ; but the latter can- 
not say they have suffered much in consequence. A 
muffin is simply a lady who sits beside the male occu- 
pant of the sleigh — Sola cum solo, " and all the rest is 
leather and prunella." 

The social system is intended rather for the comfort 
of the inner life, and for the development of domestic 
happiness, than for such external glare and glitter as 
Broadway delights in, or for such unsound social rela- 
tions as mark the America of hotels. The great artists 
who adorn the drama or the lyric stage can rarely be 
bribed sufficiently high to visit these northern regions ; 
but I doubt whether there is not a better taste in art 
among the people of Quebec than there is to be found 
in most cities of the same size in the United States. 

On a gloomy winter evening I was once more 
battling with the ice on the St. Lawrence ; and, after 
a long passage, left Point Levi for Montreal. 

A weary life -long night it seemed, and a still wearier 
day in the train. It was close upon twenty-one hours 
of stuffy, foodless travel, ere we arrived at Montreal. 
Nor can I remember anything worth recording of all that 
linked weariness, long drawn out, except that, halting at 
a roadside station in the night, I came on a detachment 
of the Scots Fusilier Guards, who had come up from 
Riviere du Loup, after their passage in sleighs over the 
snows of New Brunswick, and were in high spirits, 
looking very red in the face, and bulky in comparison 
with the lean habitans. " Misthress," quoth one of them 
to the woman at the bar, fi wad ye gi'e me a dhrap av 



150 CANADA. 

whuskie ? " The Hebe complied with this request, and 
for some very small pecuniary consideration filled him 
out nearly a tumblerful of the dreadful preparation 
known in the States as " Fortyrod." The soldier tasted 
it, blinked his eyes, squeezed them close, pursed up his 
lips, smacked them, gave a short watery cough, smelt 
the mixture, and, looking at his comrades, exclaimed, 
" My Gude ! Iiech ! I'd jist as soon face a charge of 
baynets." After that proem I was prepared to see the 
hardy warrior eject the fluid, but he proceeded to a most 
inconsequent act : for, nodding his head, he said, Ci Sae, 
here's t'ye, my lads/' and tossed down the fire-water 
incontinent. 

There were several companies of H.M.'s 63rd 
Regiment in the train, also going up to Montreal. It 
did not escape me that at the station pickets were 
looking sharply out for intending deserters, who might 
have cut away in the darkness; and I was told, and felt 
inclined to believe it might be worth their while, that 
there were Yankee crimps lying in wait at all the 
stations to help the deserters across the frontier, if 
they could induce them to leave their colours. The 
anxiety and annoyance caused by desertion, and by the 
chance of it, add to the dissatisfaction which is now 
expressed in our army in Canada; but I must say I 
cannot quite sympathise with the violence and exagge- 
ration in which that dislike finds vent. 

Captains of companies suffer losses, but in many 
instances they have only themselves to blame. The 
men, seduced by high pay, either in the States or as 
farm-labourers in Canada, are seized with an irre- 
sistible desire to quit the service abruptly, "without 
leave/' and resort to ingenious artifices to escape. 



SOUTHERNERS IN MONTREAL. 151 

Sometimes a whole guard will march off bodily, non- 
commissioned officers and all; occasionally one of the 
number will submit to be handcuffed, and will be 
marched by his comrades through the post as a deserter, 
or a man will put on a sergeant's jacket or sew chevrons 
on his coat sleeve, and march off his party as if they 
were going out on picket or patrol duty. Such artifices 
cannot always be successfully encountered, but they 
are to be met to some extent by increased vigilance. 

I need not say that it was with satisfaction I exchanged 
my railway van for a comfortable room in the house of 
Mr. Rose at Montreal. The news of an immediate 
advance of the army of the Potomac which had been 
received from New York turned out to be untrue ; no 
immediate hurry was there need for to go down to 
the seat of war. I dined at the club, where we had a 
very agreeable party, enlivened by the fervent conver- 
sation of some Southern gentlemen of the little colony 
of refugees which finds shelter in Montreal under the 
British flag. There is some work of Nemesis in the 
condition of these gentlemen. Here are Charleston 
people, who claimed the right to imprison British sub- 
jects because they had dark skins, now taking refuge 
under the British flag, from the exercise of the very 
power which enabled them to maintain their claim, 
and apologising to Englishmen for the peculiar institu- 
tion on the ground that they treated their niggers 
better than the Yankees do. 

The snow again falling, and the day cold. On the Sun-- 
day after my arrival, I walked into town in moccasins, 
and attended service in Christchurch, w r here the ritual 
was in close imitation of the cathedral formula at 
home. I saw a party of the Guards marched to church, 



152 CANADA. 

who had an air of profound discontent on their manly 
features. Some Canadians near me evidently regarded 
them as hardened heretics going to a place of punish- 
ment, and at the same time deserving it as foreign 
mercenaries j but the Guards certainly did not seem 
to care one farthing for their opinion, if they under- 
stood the expression of it. The building is very hand- 
some; but, in spite of the cold outside, I found the 
atmosphere unbearable, owing to the stoves, iron pipes, 
or some other undesirable calorific apparatus. The ser- 
mon was respectable and frigid. 

I spent the next day visiting the remarkable places and 
persons passed over in Montreal on my last brief visit. 
In the evening I dined with Colonel Kelly and H.M.'s 
47th Regiment, who entertained Sir Fenwick Wil- 
liams and the officers of the Guards then in garrison, 
and on the following morning at 9 o'clock I drove 
over to the Barracks to see a drill of the regiment 
on the St. Lawrence in snow shoes. Sir Fenwick 
Williams and some staff officers were on the ground. 
The regiment was admirably handled by Colonel 
Kelly, and the scene was very novel and amusing. 
The regiment was in excellent condition : the men 
seemed rather to like the fun with the snow shoes, 
and when skirmishers were thrown out or called in 
at the double, there was certainty of a fall or two 
from unlucky privates tripping up in their shoes and 
tumbling in the snow, which flew like puffs of musketry. 
Fresh from parades of volunteers I felt the force of 
Lord Clyde's maxim — " The first duty of a soldier is to 
obey " — as I looked at the measured tread even at the 
quickest, and the alert, agile formations of the men to 
whom discipline was the whole scope of military 



WINTER CAMPAIGNING. 153 

intellect. There was, I thought, in that complex 
machine of many parts, but of only one animating, 
moving power, what would be cheaply bought by the 
United States by many hundreds of thousands of dollars 
for the purposes of war, though man to man one of their 
regiments might be more intelligent, and quite as 
capable of deeds of valour as the old 47th, of whom 
indeed not many had the Crimean medal, though the 
campaign is now but a few years old. 

In the evening I dined with the Commander-in- 
Chief, Sir Fenwick "Williams, and met Mr. Cartier, Mr. 
Gait, and Mr. Rose. 

The letters from England which came by every mail 
showed that the position was not much understood, as 
it was believed there would be a speedy movement of 
the army of the Potomac, which I knew to be buried 
in mud. The American papers of course deluded their 
readers by constant assurances that McClellan was 
about to move next week. It would seem, after all, 
that in new countries the practice of going into 
winter quarters, which prevailed among sixteenth and 
seventeenth century generals, was founded on good 
reason; but that as the land became better drained, 
and the roads were improved by civilisation and popu- 
lations, the necessity for inaction was diminished. 
Napoleon astonished Europe by some wonderful 
escapades in the field ; but even in the Peninsula the 
British suffered greatly in winter movements. In the 
old French war, operations in Canada were usually over 
in August or early in September ; but the Americans, 
in their bold and skilful campaign of 1775, commenced 
their invasion or dash late in the year — managed so 
well that they broke in almost simultaneously at Mon- 



154 CANADA. 

treal and Quebec, on the British, who had only one 
regular regiment in the Provinces, in November — and 
it was on the last day of the year that Montgomery and 
Arnold made their brilliant and unsuccessful attempt 
to carry the citadel by escalade. 

Again, in 1812, it was as late as October before the 
Americans opened their campaign on the Niagara 
frontier ; and it was about the middle of November 
when they directed their ill-managed and abortive de- 
monstration against Montreal. They again moved in 
January, 1813, and several actions took place in the 
early months of the year, nor did the approach of 
winter drive the contending parties from the field ; 
and a good deal of sharp fighting took place in 
December. In the following year the Americans began 
the offensive at a later period, though the corps intended 
to operate against the Montreal district was in motion 
in the first week of March. Our defeat at Plattsburg 
occurred on September 11th. The Americans make 
much of it — with great justice. They defeated the best 
regiments of an army which had proved itself, in face 
of the picked troops of Napoleon, the first in Europe. 
When winter is well established in these high latitudes, 
perhaps it is, under ordinary circumstances, more 
favourable to military operations than it is in lower 
latitudes, where tremendous rains alternate with heavy 
snow storms, which do not form permanent deposits 
over which to move men or guns. 

On the following day I dined with Mr. Chamberlain, of 
the "Montreal Gazette," Mr. Rose, Mr. Ryland, Major 
Penn, and a number of gentlemen connected with the 
Canadian press, at a famous old-fashioned English 
tavern, kept by an old-fashioned John Bull cook, who 



SNOW DRIFTS. 155 

would have fainted outright at the sight of a vol-au-vent 
and died of an omelette glacee, where we had much old- 
fashioned English talk. On our issuing into the outer 
world there was a snow-fall going on, the like of which 
I, unaccustomed, had never seen before; and my voyage 
out to Mr. Rose's was diversified by attempts of the 
sleigh-driver to get over boundary-walls and into gar- 
dens, till we came to a dead stop just as the fall cleared 
off a little, and permitted us to get a glimpse of the 
moon. But the moon gave no assistance, for its rays 
only lighted up great snow mounds and a universal 
whiteness, and the road seemed as doubtful as ever. 
As I was deliberating what was best to be done, a 
sleigh-bell was heard jingling in the distance, and the 
vehicle gradually approached us. We hailed the occu- 
pant, and I heard a well-known voice in answer : it 
was that of Colonel Lysons, an inmate of the same 
hospitable abode as that I occupied. Our united 
efforts at last discovered the mansion. 

The snow-storm continued next day : the fall was so 
great that Lysons, who was bound to Quebec on duty 
connected with the Militia Bill, and started early, was 
compelled to return re infecta in the morning. To- 
wards the afternoon the storm ceased, and left a thick 
outer garment over the body of the country. The 
younger people of the house considered the occasion 
favourable for snow-balling, and I was included in some 
diffusive arrangements, very unfavourable to literary 
composition, for the spread of the white artillery, 
directed by willing hands and unrelenting aim at short 
range. I dined with the artillery mess — went after- 
wards to a ball given by H.M.'s lGth Eegiment at 
the Donegana, which is the head-quarters of Seces- 



156 CANADA. 

siondom — and finished the evening by a visit to the 
house of Mr. Judah, who gave a dance which was 
attended by Lord F. Paulet and a number of soldiers, 
and, above all, by a lovely American, who created a 
strong current in favour of the Union, of which she 
was a staunch advocate. 

As already hinted, I have heard of complaints from 
officers of the Guards and other regiments that the 
Canadians during the period in question did not treat 
them with the hospitality for which they were once cele- 
brated. Of that point I am not well able to judge; but I 
must say, that during the whole period of my stay in 
Canada, I never was in any society in which I did not 
see British officers, and never knew of their having had 
reason to complain of neglect till lately. If there was 
any want of hospitable civility, 1 must think the officers 
were in some measure to blame for it : for among those 
stationed any length of time in Canada, or who knew 
the country in former years, I always heard unreserved 
praise of those Canadians who had the means of 
entertaining visitors. It must be remembered that 
there are few Canadians who are wealthy enough to 
give set dinners, and that the reserve which guards the 
family of the Frenchman existed in the times from 
which his descendants in Canada take their traditions 
and manners. Many people in Montreal, well inclined 
to show every attention in their power to the officers 
quartered among them, were deterred by the very 
prestige of the Guards' social position from offering 
them ordinary civility ; and by degrees in many cases 
an estrangement grew up. 

I saw nothing to account for the discontent of 
officers who were quartered at Montreal, save and 



MILITARY DISCONTENT. 157 

except the fact that they were on foreign service, that 
they were not in England or London among their 
friends, and that they did not like the people, — all 
grounds which they might unfortunately allege against 
any other part of the world in which the British army 
is forced to serve. The subject is only important, in 
so far as it exercises an influence over the relations 
of the two countries ; a common expression of dislike 
on the part of men who exercise a great influence 
among the most powerful classes in this country must 
increase any tendency to regard with indifference the 
possession of the great territory which it is my belief 
we should seek to attach to the Crown by every possible 
legitimate means, Professor Goldwin Smith and the 
political economists of his school notwithstanding. 

After a stay of some days in Montreal, I received 
intelligence which rendered it necessary for me to de- 
part at once for the United States, and I returned to 
New York by Rouse's Point, travelling night and day. 
I had seen enough of Canada to inspire me with a real 
regard for the people, and a sincere interest in the 
fortunes of such a magnificent dependency of the 
Crown, and I resolved, as far as in me lay, to attract 
the attention of the home country to a region which 
offers so many advantages to her children, and promises 
one day to be the seat of flourishing communities, if 
not of a vast and independent empire. 



CHAPTER XL 

Extent of Canada — The Lakes— Canadian Wealth— Early History- 
Jacques Cartier — English and French Colonists — Colonial and 
Acadian Troubles — La Salle — Border Conflicts — Early Expeditions 
— Invasions from New England — Louisburgh and Ticonderoga — 
The Colonial Insurrection — Partition of Canada — Progress of 
Upper Canada — France and Canada — The American Invasion — 
Winter Campaign — New Orleans and Plattsburg — Peace of 
Ghent — Political Controversies — Winter Communication — Senti- 
ments of Hon. Joseph Howe — General View of Imperial and 
Colonial relations. 

A victory won not a century ago gratified the 
animosities of the American colonies, and added to 
the countries ruled by the Sovereign of Great Britain a 
tract of territory thrice the size of his kingdom. From 
Labrador to the western limit of Lake Superior, a line 
drawn east and west within the boundaries of Canada, 
is 1600 miles long; but the breadth of the country 
from its Southern frontiers to the ill-defined boundary 
on the North, is but 225 miles. This vast region is 
divided into Upper and Lower Canada. The former 
lies between long. 40° and 49° N., and lat. 74° and 117° 
W. The latter lies between 45° and 50° North and 57° 
and 80° W. The three hundred and forty thousand 
square miles thus bounded present every variety of 
scenery and of soil. The climate is mainly influenced 
by the relations of the land to the enormous inland seas 
and great rivers which occupy such a space in the map 
of British North America. From Lake Superior, which 
is larger than all Ireland, flows the mighty stream 
which feeds Lake Huron by the Biver St. Mary. Huron 



THE LAKES. 159 

is nearly 250 miles long and 221 miles broad. From 
Lake Huron the river and lake of St. Clair lead 
the flood into Lake Erie, which is 280 miles long and 
63 miles broad. From Lake Erie the current runs 
with quickening pace, till it rushes in ceaseless flight 
into the fathomless depths of Niagara, and whirls on- 
ward to melt into the waters of Lake Ontario. The 
last and smallest of these seas, Ontario, is 180 miles 
long and 50 miles broad. The St. Lawrence, winding 
through many islands, emerges from its eastern 
extremity and commences its uninterrupted career of 
700 miles to the Atlantic. The land of this northern 
continent in fact reverses the part of Ocean, and 
enfolds sea after sea within its arms. The water blesses 
the land for its protection ; it yields an easy way to the 
progress of civilisation ; transports the produce of the 
settler's labour to distant markets, and lays open to his 
enterprise the wide-spreading forests and plains which, 
but for them, would still be the heritage of the Indian 
and of his prey. Among the greatest proofs of enter- 
prise in the world are the canals by which the people 
living on the shores of the lakes have rendered naviga- 
tion practicable from the sea to Lake Superior. The 
display of the natural and artificial products of the far- 
reaching lauds watered by the giant St. Lawrence at 
the Great Exhibition of 1862, came to the eyes of most 
of us with a sort of shock. It was surprising indeed to 
behold such evidences of wealth given by a dependency 
which was associated in the popular mind with frost 
and snow, with Niagara, Labrador, and French insur- 
rection — Moose, moccasins, and Indians. There we saw 
an exuberance and excellence of growth in timber and 
in cereals — in all kinds of agricultural produce, com- 



160 CANADA. 

bined with prodigious mineral riches. Sir William 
Logan, assisted by the zealous, skilful, and indefatigable 
staff of Canadian geologists, showed what a future 
Canada may expect when capital and population com- 
bine to disinter the treasures which now lie hid within 
its rocky ribs. 

According to Jesuit Hennepin, the name of Canada 
furnishes a proof of an ignorance and deficient ap- 
preciation of the true value of the country that still 
mark the workings of the European mind in refer- 
ence to the resources of Canada. According to him, 
the word Canada was derived from a corruption of the 
Spanish words Capo da Nada, or Cape of Nothing, 
which they gave to the scene of their early discoveries 
when, under a conviction of its utter barrenness and in- 
utility, they were about abandoning it in disgust. The 
derivation may be well doubted, but the implication may 
be true enough. The mainspring of Spanish, and indeed 
of all European enterprise in those days, was the hope of 
gold, and although there is reason to know that the pre- 
cious metal is associated with others scarcely less valu- 
able in Canada, of course it was not found lying in heaps 
and blocks on the sea-shore, and therefore the Spaniards 
concluded that it did not exist. It has been conjectured, 
with greater appearance of probability, that Canada is 
a modification of the Spanish word signifying "a 
passage;" because the Spaniards thought they could 
find a passage to India through Canada ; as others, 
with greater reason, believe there may yet be found 
a permanent practicable way to the shores of the 
Pacific through its wide expanse of lake and moun- 
tain. 

The accounts of the first discovery of Canada, meagre 



JACQUES CARTIER. 1G1 

as they are, possess a romantic interest which is never 
likely to assume any very precise or substantial form. 
Although Cabot, who discovered Labrador and Hudson's 
Bay, was the first person who suggested or projected 
the establishment of colonies or settlements in these 
newly-found regions, and English merchants actually 
established some small colonies there, it is to Jacques 
Cartier, of St. Malo, that the credit of the first real 
establishment of Europeans in Canada must be assigned. 
Cabot discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence : it was 
Cartier who found that the Gulf was but the mouth of 
a vast river; and who urged his little craft among its 
unknown dangers till he came to the site of Quebec. It 
was no ordinary man who, having accomplished thus 
much, pressed onwards till he reached Hochelaga, the 
site of Montreal. He was impelled by the love of gold 
and precious stones, and believed that here he had 
found them, but they were indeed only Lagenian mines. 
Cartier, and many another gallant sailor, found glitter- 
ing mica and crystals on the shores of their new found 
lands, which in their innocent faith they believed to be 
gold and diamonds, and so filled ship and were off to 
sea again. The failure of these early adventures cast 
Canada into disfavour with those who led the enter- 
prise of the East. Whilst the English merchants and 
navigators were, with uncertain steps, seeking some 
solid resting-place on the eastern shores of America 
below the St. Lawrence, Canada was left in the pos- 
session of the Indians — not a peaceable possession, 
because the great Tribes were as irreclaimably belli- 
gerent as the Highland Clans or the Irish Septs. It is 
curious to reflect on the fact, indeed, that little more 
than two hundred years ago the whole of the vast 



162 CANADA. 

region between Massachusetts and Hudson's Bay was 
in the hands of the lied Man. But he was then 
yielding ground rapidly before the imperious strangers 
who had seized his shore farther south. The mer- 
chants of Bristol and of London turned their attention 
to Virginia before the French of St. Malo had well 
established themselves on the shores of the St. Law- 
rence. Both English and French alike were encou- 
raged and stimulated in these early efforts by the 
Crown. About the time that James the First was 
granting charters and framing corporations for colonies 
in Virginia, Champlain was establishing French settle- 
ments at Tadousac and Quebec, in Nouvelle France. 
The early dealings of English and French with the 
natives are discreditable to both nations; both fomented 
or availed themselves of dissensions among the Tribes, 
and when hostilities broke out, threw their weight 
on one side or the other. Whilst the New England 
Puritans were encouraging themselves in the work of 
destroying the Red Man by quoting passages from the 
Old Testament, which clearly showed how they the 
chosen people of God were called upon to slay the 
Canaanite, Champlain, with his Roman Catholic priests, 
was quite as busy in rooting out Iroquois in the name 
of Heaven and of the Church. Of the two invading 
races, indeed, the French were the least exclusive, for 
they neither burned nor banished Dissenters. So great 
was the liberality of France in those days, that Pro- 
testant and Roman Catholic emigrants shared in the 
same enterprise, and abode in the same settlements. 
But the Brethren of New Plymouth took a very limited 
view of Christian fraternisation, and at the very outset 
the colonists of the Northern and of the Southern 



COLONIAL AND ACADIAN TROUBLES. 163 

States were animated by principles so opposed that even 
in the grnb state they bit and stung each other. 

English and French colonists were alike under- 
going the spasmodic influences of the jealousy and 
intrigue which usually preside over the birthplace of 
colonies, when the operations of the war which broke 
out between France and England in 1628, were ex- 
tended to those distant regions. The growing power of 
England at sea enabled her to strike a tremendous 
blow at New France. Champlain, with all his garri- 
son, was starved into capitulation by Sir David Kirke ; 
but on the restoration of peace and of the colony to 
France, in 1633, he returned to Canada, where he 
died two years afterwards. Champlain, with all his 
faults, was undoubtedly a man noteworthy, politic, and 
valuable in his time and generation, and his name will 
ever be associated with the early history of the con- 
tinent. Priests and nuns and missionaries after his 
death swooped down on the Indians, who began to 
hate each other worse than ever they had done before, 
whilst at the same time they learned to entertain a 
savage dislike for the race which they had welcomed 
to their shores so courteously and gently. Thou- 
sands of Indians were indeed converted, as it was 
called, to Christianity ; but it was only that they 
might rage with greater cruelty and fierceness against 
their brethren. Massacres of Christians and of con- 
verts by furious savages fanned these unholy flames. 
Little is left of either the Indians or of their Christianity 
now. A common animosity to the aborigines brought 
about the first " rapprochement " between the French 
and British colonists. The New English and the 
New French first met in America to consider the pro- 



164 CANADA. 

priety of an alliance against their Indian enemies, 
which should not be broken by war between the parent 
countries, but the status of the two offshoots of the 
great European rivals was very different. The French 
in Canada at one time displayed a wonderful amount of 
enterprise, energy, and perseverance in their dealings 
with the savages, which can only be appreciated by those 
who have studied their early records, but it contrasts 
strongly with the quiescence and political folly of their 
descendants. Their early explorations were characterised 
by a spirit worthy of the countrymen of Cartier. 
Among these, the voyage of La Salle from Niagara 
deserves to be mentioned, as indicative of the highest 
qualities of a traveller. In a little craft of some sixty 
tons, he ascended the rapid river above the Falls of 
Niagara, amidst difficulties which we can but little 
understand, and gained the broad expanse of Lake 
Erie; thence boldly steering westward, he came upon 
the narrow river or strait of Detroit, crossed the lucid 
waters of Lake St. Clair, and was at last rewarded 
by the grand discovery of Lake Huron. Still boldly 
pursuing his course westward, La Salle at last came to 
Lake Michigan, whence in company with Father 
Hennepin, his Jesuit historian, he undertook the feat of 
penetrating to the head waters of the Mississippi. Nor 
did he stop when he reached the mystic stream ; he 
trusted himself to the mighty flood, and never turned 
round or bated breath till he floated out, 2000 miles 
below, on the turbid waters of the Gulf of Mexico. 
Whilst the hierarchy of France were busy found- 
ing bishoprics, building churches, and establishing 
seminaries, the English, distracted by internal con- 
vulsions, left their American colonies pretty much to 



LA SALLE. 165 

themselves. France sent out governors, councillors, 
and bishops to New France; England dispatched her 
Puritans, adventurers, younger sons, Catholic cavaliers, 
and Nonconformists ; but the natives were sure to 
suffer, no matter in what form the colony was ruled, or 
of what Europeans it was composed. Terrible diseases, 
although known in Europe for two hundred years pre- 
viously, according to contemporary writers, appeared 
suddenly, and without European communication, among 
the indigenes, and ravaged the miserable tribes, already 
decimated by intestine war and ruin. Christians were 
naturally held accountable for all the evil; and for a 
large part indeed they were. 

Whilst James the Second was making a last stand 
for his Crown against the victorious Dutchman, La 
Salle, with a patent of Governor, was sailing from La 
Rochelle, for the dependency of Louisiana, which now 
completed the vast semicircle over which the King„of 
France claimed authority, and which enclosing the 
British settlements in a belt from Newfoundland through 
the lakes, swept thence by the Ohio down to the Gulf of 
Mexico, far away to the terra incognita under the set- 
ting sun. The superior trading resources of the Indians 
of the South, the favourable conditions for the expan- 
sion of trade possessed by the British on the Hudson over 
the French, who had to struggle with longer frost, and 
the wintry storms of the St. Lawrence, and the greater 
commercial enterprise of the English colonists, nullified 
that vast territorial superiority. The French governors 
thought, by displays of vigour and violence towards the 
natives, to alter the course of trade ; but they could not 
eompete with their neighbours, and quarrels and petty 
wars vexed the life of both colonial systems. In 1690, 



166 CANADA. 

M. de Frontenac launched three little corps of invading 
savages, aided and led by French troops, against the Bri- 
tish settlements in the New England Colonies. Schenec- 
tady in New York, Salmon Falls in New Hampshire, 
Casco in Maine, were surprised and burned, and the 
colonists were given to the sword and the scalping- 
knife. For a time the survivors of the massacre had 
something else to do besides persecuting each other to 
death for witchcraft or torturing their heretics. They 
set to work to avenge their slaughtered saints. Sir 
William Phipps, a native of Massachusetts, led his 
Puritan hosts to Port Royal in Nova Scotia, but was 
obliged to retreat ingloriously from an attempt against 
Montreal. His rival, De Frontenac, had no better 
fortune in a projected attack by land and sea against 
New York. The war which raged between the colo- 
nists was terminated by the Peace of Ryswickj but 
peace did not last long, and the declaration of war by 
Great Britain against France and Spain revived the 
bloody contests between the borderers. The British 
Government sent out Marlborough's veterans, and those 
sailors who had swept the seas of every enemy, to aid 
the colonists. An immense expedition, which seemed 
capable of destroying any trace of French rule in Canada, 
sailed from Boston in 1710, against Quebec, but failed 
miserably at sea and in the St. Lawrence ere it reached 
the city. The Peace of Utrecht, in 1713, brought about 
a cessation of hostilities, but not of jealousies, or of 
Indian wars and massacres. By that time the pre- 
dominance of the white man was well established, and 
the faces of the Indians were turned steadily towards 
the setting sun, and their footsteps followed his course 
towards the forests of the west. Fort after fort en- 



LOUISBUBGH, CAPE BRETON. 167 

croached on their decreasing domain, and Englishman 
and Frenchman, each after his kind, sought to reprg- 
duce in the New World those features of the mother 
countiy which he loved or admired or respected most. 

In the period which elapsed between the Treaty of 
Utrecht and the declaration of war in 1745, both the 
Colonies and Canada prospered, but the increase of the 
former was to that of the latter as the increase of grain 
compared with that of moss. The people of Massachu- 
setts, led by their colonial chief, Pepperell, with contin- 
gents from Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut, 
were joined by the British fleet under Warren, and set 
out on their darling project of reducing Louisburg, the 
great French arsenal and station at Cape Breton. On the 
17th of August, 1746, after a siege of two months, the 
place surrendered w T ith all its stores to the victorious Colo- 
nists. It was with difficulty that France could commu- 
nicate with her menaced dependency, for the sea was 
nearly controlled by the British fleets, but her pride was 
aroused, and great armaments were prepared and dis- 
patched to Canada. Afflavit Deus et hostes dissipantur. 
Two expeditions were nigh lost altogether on the waves. 
A third was destroyed by the fleet under Warren and 
Anson. The^ Peace of Bochelle put an end to the 
passionate efforts of France to retrieve her disasters, but 
the rivalries and excesses of the British and French 
fur-traders continued the strife between the Colonies 
and New France. The latter claiming the whole course 
of the Ohio, as it appears with some reason, forbade 
our traders to resort there. Forts were built to enable 
the French to exercise their jurisdiction and authority 
on ground which was regarded by the British Colonists 
as their own, and it is a remarkable fact, that George 



168 CANADA. 

Washington's first military service was in command of 
an expedition of Virginians to capture the works 
erected by the French, and that he was compelled to 
lay down his arms by De Villiers, after a brief and 
inglorious — not to say very badly-managed campaign. 
Although Great Britain made considerable efforts to 
aid the colonists in their wars, she could not very well 
continue to do so when she was at peace with France, 
if her distant subjects chose to carry on hostilities on 
their own account. The King's Government gave 
advice to the Colonies to unite for self-defence, which 
led in 1754 to the assemblage of a convention at Albany, 
at which Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hamp- 
shire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New 
York were represented. The delegates drew up a plan 
for what was in effect a Federal Union, but the plan 
fell to the ground. The Home Government refused to 
adopt it, because of certain encroachments which it 
contained on the prerogatives of the Crown; and the 
colonial assemblies, which had already exhibited a 
sturdy self-reliance and independence w T orthy of atten- 
tion at home, were equally dissatisfied with the pro- 
posal. But the seed had been sown — the idea of 
Federal Union, of self-taxation, of levying troops and 
regulating trade, was busy in men's minds. In the 
same year the Colonists were preparing for their great 
attack on Canada — an attack which was made, not 
because France was the enemy of England, but because 
Frenchmen in Canada were rivals of the American 
colonists. 

The lines of invasion of French Canada marked out 
by the American subjects of the British Crown, were 
very much the same as those of the American rebels 



BORDER CONFLICTS. 1G9 

against the Crown, when some twenty odd years after- 
wards they prepared to invade British Canada. It is 
singular that the men who, under the authority of the 
Crown of England, or using at least the pretext of a 
state of war between the home countries, waged war 
against the subjects of France in Canada, should have 
been foremost in the rebellion against England, and 
that, in the invasion of Canada, which was one of their 
first undertakings in pursuance of their rebellion, 
they should have found neither sympathy nor aid 
amongst the French Canadians, whose allegiance had 
been so recently transferred to the King of Eng- 
land. More singular still is it that France, which had 
received so many tremendous blows from these very 
colonists, and which suffered so much in her efforts to 
defend her Canadian dependencies from these in- 
veterate assailants, should have been mainly instru- 
mental in establishing their independence, and in lead- 
ing their great revolution to a successful issue. The 
condition of the Scottish borders in the fourteenth 
and fifteenth centuries furnishes but a very poor 
parallel to the state of the debateable land which spread 
from the banks of the Ohio, by the great lakes, down to 
the Atlantic. Constant aggressions took place from 
one side or the other by trading parties, bands of 
Indians, or by armed parties with larger purposes of 
occupation or vengeance. Whilst the English colonies 
were enjoying the full fruit of the principles on which 
they had been founded, Canada, regarded as a mere 
dependency of the French Crown, vexed with the com- 
plicated and inconsistent form of government, was 
daily losing ground. The ill-paid governors were cor- 
rupt, or at all events exacting : the Intendants ground 



170 CANADA. 

the province to powder to make the most of their office, 
and beneath each of these officers was an army of eccle- 
siastics, bent on appropriating, for that incarnation 
of the Church which appeared in their proper persons, 
the best of the land and the great tithes of all trade and 
commerce. Of the many encounters which took place on 
the borders, there are few authentic records: it is sufficient 
to know that neither the French nor the English suc- 
ceeded at the period in effecting a permanent lodgment 
within the frontiers of the enemy. The Governors of 
Canada commemorated their victory, " Rebellious Notes 
Anglia Incolis" on medals and brasses, and Great 
Britain rewarded by various honours the colonial 
generals and governors who were supposed to have 
attained advantages over their Canadian neighbours. 
In 1756 war was again declared by Great Britain 
against France. Montcalm, availing himself of the 
utter imbecility of Lord Loudon, who commanded the 
British troops, speedily fell upon the important post of 
Oswego, on Lake Ontario, and captured it with its 
garrison, guns, flotilla, and stores. He followed up 
that great success in the following year, by the capture 
of Fort Edward, which surrendered, with its garrison 
of 8000 men under Monroe, who were massacred by 
the Indian auxiliaries. The officers who were sent from 
England to command the troops, and their continental 
allies at this period, must have inspired the American 
continentals with a feeling of profound contempt : but 
Lord Chatham, perceiving that the Colonists must be 
the mainstay of military operations, aroused the various 
New England settlements, by spirited despatches and 
promises of help, to make strenuous efforts against the 
enemv. Once more a British fleet under Admiral 



LOUISBUUGH AND TICONDEROGA. 171 

Boscawen appeared upon the scene, and a force of 
14,000 men, under Lord Amherst, was covered by its 
guns in the operations which led to the surrender of 
Louisburgh on the 26th of July, 1756. This success 
was tarnished by the defeat of a powerful army under 
Abercrombie, in an ill-judged assault against Ticonde- 
roga, where 16,000 men were beaten back by the 
French garrison, which numbered only 3000 ; but 
Kingston, on Lake Ontario, surrendered to the British- 
American troops, and Fort du Quesne — in the advance 
against which Braddock lost his life in the former war 
— was abandoned without a blow by its French garrison, 
who would be somewhat astounded, if, revisiting the 
glimpses of the moon, they could gaze upon the Pitts- 
burgh of the present day on the site of their ancient 
post. In July, 1759, three great expeditions were 
directed against Canada. The Ministry resolved at 
any cost to trample under foot every trace of French 
dominion on the American continent, and in that 
resolution they were mainly sustained by the passion 
and animosity of the New England colonists. A 
powerful corps under Lord Amherst was directed 
against Ticonderoga. Another corps, under Sir 
William Johnson, mainly composed of continentals 
and Indians, advanced against Fort Niagara, whilst 
an army commanded by General Wolfe, covered by the 
fleet, made an attack from the St. Lawrence against 
Quebec. Ticonderoga and Crown Point were aban- 
doned by the French, and Fort Niagara was taken after 
an engagement with the enemy. How Wolfe fared all 
the world knows : an elaborate account of the great 
victory which gave Canada to the Crown would be out 
of place in this volume, but elsewhere I have made a 



172 CANADA. 

few remarks concerning the events of that memorable 
battle. On the 18th of September the British standard 
•floated from the citadel of Quebec. Ever since that 
time the country, handed over four years afterwards by 
the Treaty of Paris to the British, has remained under 
the protection of England, acquiring year by year a 
greater measure of freedom and self-government, till, at 
this moment, it may be considered as attached to the 
Empire solely by what Mr. O'Connell called "the 
golden link of the Crown." The whole population 
of the country then ceded was under 70,000. The 
population of the British colonies in America was at 
least twenty times as numerous. The American 
Colonists were at last gratified by a conquest which 
relieved them from a dangerous neighbour, who was 
backed by the power of France, and which opened to 
their enterprise not only the lakes and rivers of Canada, 
but Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, the St. Lawrence, and 
all the valuable fisheries of the sea-board. It was un- 
fortunate that no attempt was made to define the exact 
boundary line between the Colonies and the new terri- 
tory, although the Proclamation of 1763 no doubt was 
supposed at the time to be sufficiently accurate; but 
we shall see hereafter that the neglect proved very 
damaging to the interests of Canada. The Americans, 
perhaps, would have resented any attempt to define 
very nicely the frontier between the new conquest of 
England and the territories of the colonists who had 
contributed to some extent in effecting it ; and there 
were not many who foresaw the rupture which 
divided the mother-country and her dependencies for 
ever. 

For fifteen years Canada, content with the preser- 



THE COLONIAL INSURRECTION. 173 

ration of her ecclesiastical establishments, of freedom 
of religion, and of the " Custom of Paris," seemed per- 
fectly indifferent to the transfer of her allegiance 
from one king to another, the change, perhaps, being 
more in the language of her rulers, and the blazon of 
her standard, than in the mode of government. In fact 
the British military governors were singularly like the 
French military governors ; but it was felt at home, as 
soon as the difficulties with the colonies began, that 
Canada could not continue to be like a mere military 
division of a conquered country. In 1774;, the Quebec 
Act was passed, wilich created a council to aid in the 
administration of the province, guaranteed the freedom 
of the Koman Catholic Church, and abrogated the Royal 
Proclamation of 1763. In lieu of the administration of 
a military pro-consulate, there was established a settled 
government, with some show of a representative basis. 
The American colonists were then upon the verge of 
the great rebellion, and as a proof of the spirit in which 
they acted, it may be remarked that the Continental 
Congress made a most -violent remonstrance against the 
toleration of Roman Catholicism in Canada, guaranteed 
by the Quebec Act. The very next year the rebellious 
colonists captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and 
Montreal; and had their enterprise against Quebec 
succeeded, Canada might have become included in 
the territory which eventually became portion of the 
United States. So bent were the colonists on in- 
cluding Canada in the scope of their great design, 
that in 1776, immediately after their unsuccessful 
invasion, Franklin, who was one of the main movers of 
Wolfe's expedition, and two gentlemen, were sent by 
Congress to offer the Canadians a free press and State 



174 CANADA. 

rights, and the free exercise of the faith which but two 
years before they had so bitterly denounced the British 
Government for guaranteeing, if they would but join 
in the revolt against Great Britain. In the war which 
followed between the British and the American colonists, 
Canada was made the base of operations against the 
colonies, which generally terminated in disasters, such 
as that of Burgoyne, though, in pitched battles, the 
British were almost invariably victorious. The habitans 
took little or no part in the contest, but on the 
Declaration of Independence, a number of Royalists 
emigrated from the States and settled in the country, 
in very much the same way as the Southern Americans 
are now taking refuge in Canada from the perse- 
cution of their Northern neighbours. The wish to 
give, in their new country, these devoted men some equi- 
valent for that which they had lost, suggested a course 
which has been condemned by subsequent events. The 
Home Government resolved upon the unfortunate step 
of dividing the province into Upper and Lower Canada, 
with a governor-in-chief in Lower, and a lieutenant- 
governor in Upper Canada, so that the Royalists 
might not be quite swamped by the French element. 
The governors selected were often men without par- 
ticular aptitude for administration, certainly destitute 
of the ability needed in dealing with the very peculiar 
state of society, trade, and interests prevailing in the 
provinces. 

Although the legislative council and assembly of 
Upper Canada had equal privileges with that of Lower 
Canada, the condition of the people was very different, 
principally owing to the paucity of population. Go- 
vernor Simcoe, to whom the care of Upper Canada was 



THE TARTITIOK OF CANADA. 175 

first confided, ruled over a wilderness, in which a 
few clearings around the trading stations on the lakes 
and rivers, and some huts gathered about the military 
posts, were the sole vestiges of the white man and 
civilisation. As the English colonists gained the upper 
hand in the constant strife which raged during the 
latter period of the French occupation, the habitans 
of the remoter settlements had gradually withdrawn 
towards Lower Canada, and had concentrated in the 
neighbourhood of the towns on the St. Lawrence, 
where they could find safety in case of danger, and 
transport should their friends be unable to protect 
them. It was not surprising that the whole French popu- 
lation flocked into the lower province; for under a foreign 
rule they gained confidence and ease by the contempla- 
tion of their numbers and the concentration of their 
masses. Although many American Royalists came into 
the lake country so abandoned, they were not equal in 
number to the population that fled. It required no 
small amount of courage and perseverance in Governor 
Simcoe to conduct the affairs of his little government, 
from the site which his sagacity pointed out to him as 
the most favourable for the development of his pro- 
vince. The Red Man's wigwam still clung to the 
border of the British posts, and the few intrepid men 
who ventured to fix their homes along the shore of the 
Upper St. Lawrence, found themselves amidst an 
uncongenial population of half-breeds and Indians, 
accustomed indeed to the chase, and to the rude barter 
which represented the only trade of those vast regions, 
but utterly averse to settled life and agricultural labour; 
obnoxious also to handicraft-men, mechanics, and the 
followers of the peaceful, regular pursuits which are 



176 CANADA. 

the handmaidens of civilisation. Under these circum- 
stances the advance of Upper Canada, slow as it was 
for some 3 T ears, is surprising, and the rapidity of her 
subsequent progress is certainly worthy of admiration. 
In 1793 the revenue of Upper Canada was less than 
1000/. a-year; and although the machinery of carrying 
on government and law existed, it was but imper- 
fectly, if at all, worked. In theory the English law 
prevailed, and one cannot but admit, if we are to judge 
by its fruits, that it was far better calculated to pro- 
mote the security and prosperity of the country ; 
than the Custom of Paris, to which the French Cana- 
dians clung in virtue of the capitulation of Quebec. 
Even thus early the militia occupied the attention of 
the legislature, although they were obliged to do battle 
against the denizens of the forest, and to encourage 
the hunter by rewards for the destruction of bears and 
wolves. The regulation of trade between the provinces 
and the United States — the establishment of ports of 
entry — the adjustment of land titles, and other useful 
matters of the kind, were not neglected by the earliest 
Parliaments. Unhappily religious questions arose soon 
after the close of the last century in Lower Canada. 
The national feeling became associated with the ancient 
religion in opposition to the aims of the British Govern- 
ment and of the Protestant clergy. Whilst Dissenters 
and Presbyterians and other schismatics from the 
Church of England were allowed free scope in Upper 
Canada, the Government set itself to work to give to 
the Protestant Church in Lower Canada the prestige 
which belonged to the Catholic Church. The Canadians 
raised the cry — Nos institutions! notre langue! et noslois! 
When hostilities with America seemed imminent in 



FRANCE AND CANADA. 177 

7 t the militia nevertheless responded to the call 
-with enthusiasm in Lower Canada, and Acts were 
passed in Upper Canada for raising, training and 
billeting the force in case of need. Although the lan- 
guage for which the Lower Canadians cried out was 
that of France Acadianised, the institutions and the 
laws in which they took pride belonged only to a 
France of the past. The Republic had placed between 
Canada and France a barrier which the priesthood 
declared to be impassable. "What had they to do with 
the Goddess of Reason and a calendar without a saint ? 
What had a people steeped in feudalism, or the Custom 
of Paris, to do with the Code Xapoleon ? Nevertheless 
the rulers of Canada suspected the habitans of treason, 
whilst the habitans suspected the rulers of designs 
upon their faith ; and so it was that want of confidence, 
one of the most formidable impediments to the good 
understanding between governor and governed which 
can exist, took root and grew apace. The second war 
with the United States was at hand. The animosity of 
the Americans of the Southern and Middle States 
against England was much augmented by the discovery 
of a project of the Canadian Secretary, Ryland, to 
detach the Xew England States from the L'nion, and 
to annex them to Canada. The bitter feelings which 
the old New England Colonists had entertained towards 
their French neighbours had been mitigated by the 
influence of a common language and the congenial 
religion and laws of the English rulers of Canada. Cer- 
tain it is that the Xew England delegates opposed the 
war which was declared against Great Britain by the 
Government of Washington by every means in their 
power, though they were by no means complimentary 



178 CANADA. 

to Canada, which they supposed it to be one of the 
objects of the war party in America to annex. On the 
declaration of war in 1812, the Canadians, with the 
exception of the inhabitants of one parish, turned out 
with the greatest alacrity, and in considerable force, to 
defend their country. General Hall, the American 
Governor of Michigan, seized upon Sandwich in July 
in the same year; but he was soon very glad to cross 
over to Detroit again, where he very ingloriously capi- 
tulated soon afterwards to General Brock, with 2500 
men and 33 pieces of cannon, thus surrendering the 
whole State of Michigan to Great Britain. 

The Americans, elated by their naval successes how- 
ever, resolved to conquer Canada, although Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, and New York opposed the war with 
so much determination, that it seemed very probable 
the Union would be broken up by the persistence of 
the Southern statesmen in their policy. A corps under 
Colonel Van Bensellaer attacked the British and the 
Colonists under Brock at Queenstown, near Niagara, 
and although that gallant, intrepid, and able officer fell 
at the head of the 49th regiment, the British, aided by 
Canadians and Indians, captured or slew nearly the 
whole of the American invading force, under the eyes 
of a large number of American militia, at the other 
side of the river, who refused to cross to the aid of 
their countrymen. The Americans demanded an 
armistice, which was most injudiciously granted by 
General Sheaffe. The American General Dearborn, 
meantime, with a force varying, it is said, from 8000 
to 10,000 men, invaded Lower Canada, but after some 
unsuccessful skirmishes retreated to Plattsburg. A 
few days afterwards the American General Smith made 



THE AMERICAN INVASION. 179 

an attack oil Fort Erie, which was characterised by 
pusillanimity, and ended in disgraceful failure. When 
the campaign opened in January, 1813, it was not 
auspicious for the invading Americans. General Win- 
chester's force was defeated by Colonel Proctor, -near 
Frenchtown ; Ogdensburg was taken ; but the Ameri- 
cans, nevertheless, continued the war with characteristic 
perseverance and foresight, and set to work to use 
the water communications which we had neglected, 
and thus gained an assured advantage. General 
Sheaffe was driven out of Toronto by an expedition 
which landed under the guns of a newly-created 
American lake fleet, commanded by an experienced and 
brave sailor, Commodore Chancey. The capture of Fort 
George followed; but an attempt to overrun Lower 
Canada ended in utter defeat, Prevost, however, being 
beaten back in an attack upon Sackett's Harbour, and 
Proctor being repulsed in an assault on Sanduskejr, so 
as to moderate any undue exultation on the side of the 
British on account of their success. 

This war excited little attention in England, .where 
men thought only of their great naval victories, in which 
their ships captured, sunk, or dispersed whole fleets of 
the enemy, or of the grand operations in Spain, where 
Wellington was worsting in succession the best generals 
of the Empire. All the strength of the United States 
was put forth in their war against Canada, and it is only 
astonishing that the Americans did so little with the 
means at their disposal. In July a British expedition, 
covered by two sloops of war, destroyed stores, barracks, 
and property at Plattsburg, Burlington, and Swanton, 
whilst the Americans burned the British stores at 
York. It must be remembered that the Americans 



ISO CANADA. 

had every facility in the command of the lakes, 
and in the command of the waters. The connection 
between Lower and Upper Canada was carried on by 
rapid and dangerous rivers, and by lakes which were 
constantly patrolled by the Americans, the roads 
being simply tracks through a forest, or causeways of a 
most rudimentary character. For some time both 
sides contended for the supremacy of the Lakes. On 
the 31st of July the British, under Sir J. Yeo, captured 
two of Commodore Chancey's squadron, which was 
further reduced by the loss of two gun-boats, which 
capsized in trying to escape from the victorious 
English. But Chancey repaired damages in Sackett's 
Harbour, and on the 28th of September attacked the 
British flotilla, which eventually retreated under the 
guns of Burlington Heights. For the time, therefore, 
the Americans were masters of Lake Ontario, and they 
used their advantages in capturing British stores and 
reinforcements. On the 10th of September the British 
lost the command of Lake Erie also. An American 
squadron of nine vessels under Perry, far superior in 
size, number of men, and in calibre of guns, defeated 
a British squadron of six vessels under Barclay. The 
result of this defeat was that the British under Proctor 
had to evacuate Detroit and Amherstburg, and fall back 
to open communication with their base of supplies. 
On the river Thames the pursuit became so severe, 
that Proctor turned to bay, but he was overwhelmed 
by the Americans under Harrison, who numbered 
3500, whilst the British did not exceed a third of that 
strength. Michigan was lost to us, and the only port 
retained by the British west of Burlington was Michil- 
imacinac, which they had taken early in the war. 



THE WINTER CAMPAIGN. 181 

Nothing less than the conquest of Lower Canada would 
now satisfy the Americans. A force of 12,000 men 
was assembled to operate against Montreal. On the 
20th of September, Colonel de Salaberry, a Canadian in 
command of a post of militia, and a few Indians, 
checked the advance of the enemy, and fell back to 
Chateaugay, where in a most creditable and gallant 
action he defeated an American column under Hampton, 
which was intended to co-operate with an expedition 
down the St. Lawrence, against Montreal. Another 
portion of the force was defeated at Chrystler's Farm, 
with some loss, by a body of British regulars, Canadian 
militia, and Indians. The attack on Montreal was pre- 
cipitately abandoned, and the Canadians, who had done 
so well, were sent back to their homes. But winter did 
not put an end to the war. The British determined to 
drive the enemy out of Canada, and the Americans re- 
tired before them. On the 10th of December the enemy 
abandoned and burned the town of Newark. On the 
18th of December the British surprised Fort Niagara 
with all its garrison, and gave Lewiston and Man- 
chester to the flames. Buffalo and Black Rock were 
captured and destroyed by the British under Riall, and 
the whole country-side was laid waste in retaliation for 
the burning of Newark. Sir George Prevost was able 
to meet the Canadian Parliament with pride, and to 
congratulate it on the conduct of the provincial militia 
in the field, and the loyalty of the people. Before the 
coming of spring had loosed the lakes and rivers, the 
Americans returned to the attack on Canada, and in 
March, 1S14, Macomb crossed Lake Champlain; but 
a part of his force was repulsed in an attack on Lacolle, 
and he retired to Plattsburg. In -May, Sir J. Yec 



182 CANADA. 

fitted out an expedition from Kingston, which sailed on 
the 4th of May, captured Oswego, and destroyed some 
military stores, but did not succeed in a similar 
attempt against Sackett's Harbour. On the 3rd of 
July a strong force of Americans landed near Chip- 
pewa, and defeated a body of British, Canadians, 
and Indians, of inferior numbers, under Riall. A 
very bloody and determined contest ensued on the 
25th, near the same place, in which the Americans 
made repeated efforts to break the British, but were 
repulsed, and finally retired to their camp, whence they 
retreated towards Fort Erie, destroying their baggage 
and stores. The British followed, and were beaten in 
a desperate attack to storm the fort. Whilst these 
small yet sanguinary actions were breaking out sporadi- 
cally along the Canadian frontier, the Government at 
home made use of a part of the forces liberated by the 
peace with France, and resolved on giving the Ame- 
ricans a little diversion from their pursuit of glory and 
conquest in Canada. A British force under Ross 
defeated the American army at the Races of Bladens- 
burg, captured Washington, and destroyed public 
buildings and property of all kinds. A demonstration 
against Baltimore did not succeed because the fleet 
could not co-operate, although the British troops routed 
the American covering army with the utmost ease, and 
at New Orleans our troops endured a humiliating re- 
pulse. The war did not languish in Canada. The British 
took Prairie du Chien in the west, and seized on all 
the country between the river Penobscot and New 
Brunswick. The most important part of the State 
of Maine thus fell into British possession, and a 
provisional government was established over it till the 



THE PEACE OF GHENT. 183 

end of tlie war, when Maine was restored to the United 
States, To compensate for these successes, the British 
flotilla was beaten by the Americans under McDonough, 
and Sir George Prevost sustained a discreditable defeat 
at the hands of a very inferior force under General 
[Macomb, on the 8th of September, at Plattsburgh. 
The Americans, however, abandoned Fort Erie on 
the 5th of November, which was the last vestige of 
their great plans for the conquest of Canada. The 
Peace of Ghent put an end to a contest in which the 
United States would have soon found itself opposed to 
the whole power of Great Britain. The conditions of 
that Treaty were disastrous for Canada, as they shut 
her out from any seaport for several months of the 
year. In fact, Admiral Gambier, Mr. Goulburn, and 
Mr. Adams, knew nothing at all about their business, 
and exercised neither diligence, research, nor caution, 
in examining the stipulations of the treaty. They 
accepted all the American conditions and statements 
without inquiry or hesitation. They never bestowed 
a thought on the effect of such observations as "the 
high lands lying due north from the source of the river 
St. Croix, and the head of the Connecticut river not 
having been ascertained ;" " part of the boundary 
between the two powers not having been surveyed," and 
the like, which many years after became essential 
and powerful arguments in the discussion. In the 
war the Canadians had displayed courage and spirit, 
and the best American generals and statesmen were 
very speedily satisfied that they could effect very little 
in the way of conquest. They were but too glad to 
make peace. The war had not only damaged their 
resources, but threatened the very existence of the 



184 CANADA. 

Union. The northern delegates at the Hartford Con- 
vention had not merely objected to the proceedings of 
the Federal Government, but had entered upon the 
discussion of fundamental changes in the consti- 
tution. In the Treaty of Ghent no concession was 
made on any of the points on which the declaration 
of war was made. In some respects the contest with 
the United States proved of decided benefit to Canada ; 
the money spent by the army enriched the country, 
and the incidents of the campaign tended to raise 
the reputation of the Canadians in England, and 
elevated the sentiment of self-respect among the people. 
Roads were made or projected for military purposes. 
Canals were discussed and planned, and steam began 
to contend with currents and rapids. The revenue 
exceeded the expenditure, although nearly 27,000/. 
figured as an. item for militia services the first year 
after the war. 

Had it not been for political and civil complica- 
tions, the progress of Canada would have been still 
more rapid ; but truth to say, progress encountered a 
considerable obstacle in the character of the people 
of Lower Canada. Probably not less than 35,000 of 
the whole population were of French descent, strongly 
attached to their institutions, and therefore indisposed 
to change — influenced by traditions of a most conser- 
vative character, and by territorial arrangements which 
perpetuated the very essence of feudalism. Neverthe- 
less, emigration was encouraged, free passages were 
given to some immigrants, food to others, one hundred 
acres of land to all. Banks were established; but through 
all the extent of the upper province in 1817, there were 
not quite seven persons to the square mile. In some 



POLITICAL CONTROVERSIES. 185 

instances injudicious governors exercised their power to 
counteract the good disposition of the House of Parlia- 
ment, and occasionally Parliament marred the excellent 
intentions of the representatives of the Crown. Im- 
peachment of judges, imprisonment of journalists, ques- 
tions of privilege and the like arose, which interrupted 
the good feeling so necessary to the progress of colonial 
life. Constant fears of sedition, privy conspiracy, and 
rebellion, haunted the minds of governors, whilst the 
colonists and the habitans struggled for greater freedom 
of action. Although the Canadians had resisted the 
Americans with the greatest energy, they were sus- 
pected of a desire to coalesce with, or to imitate the 
institutions of, the enemy. England at this time was 
agitated by aspirations for reform, and those who led 
the masses certainly justified the suspicion with which 
their designs were regarded, by intemperance of lan- 
guage. Among the emigrants who flocked to Canada 
were men who were tinged deeply with the dye of dan- 
gerous democratic doctrine, and notwithstanding the 
great gulf fixed between the new comers and the 
French habitans, it was feared that the two parties 
would unite in founding a government which could not 
be congenial to one or the other. When Lord Dal- 
housie came out in 1820, he found however a tolerably 
prosperous community. The dissensions respecting the 
civil list which had occurred for several years previously, 
inaugurated Lord Dalhousie's administration. The 
Assembly would not grant a permanent civil list, and 
took the extraordinary step of appointing an agent, 
who was a member of the British Parliament, to repre- 
sent them in England. The impolicy of dividing the 
country into two provinces became more apparent as 



186 CANADA. 

questions connected with revenue arose, and the dis- 
cussion of these questions was embittered by deficient 
harvests and commercial distress. Now it was seen 
how injuriously the want of a port open all the year 
affected the interests of Canada, which for five or six 
months was denied all access to the sea, unless through 
the United States. The union of the two provinces 
was agitated, but the French population did not 
support the project. They believed they would lose 
by amalgamation; that they would forfeit their privi- 
leges, and be deprived of the advantages they enjoyed 
in the free import of American produce. When it 
became known that the Government really had a pro- 
ject for the union of the provinces, Mr. Papineau, 
the Speaker of the Assembly, was dispatched to Eng- 
land with a petition against the proposed amalgama- 
tion, and it was deferred for a time. Financial diffi- 
culties increased the ill-temper of the governed, and the 
harshness and resolution of the Government widened 
the breach between them. Squabbles and ill-blood 
sprang up with greater vehemence and animosity every 
day, and the seeds of the evil which came to maturity 
in 1837, if not then first planted, were certainly in- 
vigorated. The energies of the English, Scotch, and 
Irish emigrants who flocked into the north were not 
to be repressed by these malign influences. The 
citizens of the old world pushed their way into Upper 
Canada, and finding lakes and rivers unfit for naviga- 
tion, projected and carried out canals, and already 
grasped the probability of landing cargoes of Canadian 
wheat in Liverpool, from vessels loaded at Kingston 
and Montreal. 

The Imperial negotiators who renounced all the 



NEGLECT OF CANADIAN INTERESTS. 1S7 

claims which they might have preferred in behalf of 
Canada on the peace of 1815, would probably have 
failed to secure for the province a port on the sea, 
although the British, who held so large a portion of the 
State of Maine, might have fairly sought some equiva- 
lent for it. At all events no strenuous effort was 
made to obtain such an advantage — nor was there any 
attempt on our part to ascertain what the precise 
boundaries were which the Americans claimed. We 
will just see how a British negotiator many years 
later consented to draw a line which placed the land 
communications of the mother country with the pro- 
vinces in war time at the mercy of an enemy for many 
miles of its course — Canadian interests and Imperial 
considerations being alike neglected — peace and war 
alike hampered, by want of foresight, prudence, or 
statesmanlike consideration. The increasing prosperity 
of Canada forced her to enter into closer relations 
with the United States, and to accede to arrangements 
with the Federal Government, which were of course 
regulated by Imperial agency, and which were not 
always characterised by wisdom. But there was no 
alternative — at least not one which could then be 
adopted. The idea of a great confederation of the 
British Provinces, which would enable Canada to avail 
herself of the ports of New Brunswick and Nova 
Scotia, if it presented itself at all, was seen to be sur- 
rounded by embarrassing obstacles and conflicting 
sentiments. The skill in the conception, and the 
energy displayed in the execution, of the canal system, 
which is the grandest and most extensive in the world, 
have made a practicable passage of more than 2000 
miles from Anticosti up to Superior City; and works 



188 CANADA. 

proposed or in progress by land and water attest the 
enterprise and resolution with which the Canadians 
contended against the only impediments in the way of 
their prosperity and greatness. The claims of Canada 
to Imperial aid against invasion are strengthened by 
concessions made by the Imperial agents, which clear 
away the path of the invaders. Although all the 
border States had their representatives and champions, 
the voice of Canada was not heard in the deliberations 
of the Commission. It was British territory which was 
in debate — there are some who hold that Canada is 
alone called upon to defend it. Although the land 
may be invaded because it belongs to Great Britain, so 
far that Great Britain is actually attacked by aggression 
upon it, Canada, involved in war because of its de- 
pendency on the British Crown, must bear the brunt of 
defending that which British diplomacy has rendered 
peculiarly liable to invasion. It is plain that those 
who insist on leaving Canada to defend herself, are 
advocating a policy which tends to separate Canada 
from the British Crown. The provinces are ruled by 
a British viceroy, and are under the British flag, which 
would be the cause of an American attack. Canada can 
do nothing to provoke hostility, but the English may be 
struck with effect as long as the provinces are ruled by 
the Crown, and contain a company of British soldiers. 
It would be interesting to inquire whether the 
Canadians would be better off by themselves than they 
are at present, supposing always that the new theories 
are' likely to prevail, in case of war. Notwithstanding 
the violence and exaggerated language of the American 
press, it is only right to conclude that Canada is far 
less liable to insult and aggression under British pro- 



THE VALUE OP THE PROTECTION. 189 

tection than she would be without it. But that remark 
can only hold good in cases where the Americans do 
not feel more than usual irritation against Great 
Britain. The Canadians must feel that if they stood 
alone, pretexts would not long be wanting to treat the 
provinces as Texas was served. Canada has at present 
the power of England at her back, and the threat to 
deprive her of it by no means implies that she will be 
left to fight single-handed in the day of need. On the 
whole, balancing the chances of aggression on account 
of England against the chances of aggression if she 
stood alone, it is certain that Canada gains more 
than she loses by her present connection. The 
growth of great states along her frontier, and the 
excessive weakness of a water boundary in face of a 
maritime power, have caused us at home to insist on 
the engineering impossibility of defending the whole of 
the land and lake boundaries, but it by no means 
follows that the conquest of the country would be 
equally easy. With the full command of the sea and 
all its advantages — with commerce free — with a won- 
derful unanimity in the object of the war — with im- 
mense exaltation of spirit, and unparalleled expenditure 
of money, the Northern Americans have not yet subdued 
the Southern States, though they have more than tested 
the quality of their inner armour. Canada, with its 
narrow belt of inhabited territory, flanked by inland seas 
and vast rivers, offers no resemblance, it is true, to the 
South, but aided by Great Britain and her army, her 
fleet, and her purse, she might defy subjugation if she 
could not escape invasion. It must be noted that the 
Americans frequently dwell on ideas for a long time 
ere they attempt to carry them out, but that generally 



190 CANADA. 

they do make an effort to give practical effect to 
those theories which have taken hold of. the popular 
mind. For many years before the annexation of Texas 
and the war with Mexico took place, the people were 
prepared for both by the constant inculcation of their 
necessity. It is only justice to the Government of the 
United States to declare that their action has been 
generally restrictive, and that it has acted as a drag on 
the wheels of the popular chariot. There is in fact a 
great people standing between the fringe of the noisy 
democracy and the highlands of Federal authority, 
which breaks the force of the popular wave, and hears 
unmovedly the beatings of the turbulent press, and 
raging voices of the Cleons of the hour. Shame it is 
indeed to them that they so often permit the worth, 
and sense, and honour of the nation to be represented 
by the worthless, foolish, degraded scum that simmers 
in its noisy ebullitions on the surface of the social 
system. We cannot be sure how far the Americans 
are actuated by the feelings which find expression in 
the most scandalous public paper of New York, but we 
do know that the paper in question is largely read, and 
that its favourite topic, when there is a lack of subjects 
for abuse or menace, is the forthcoming doom of 
Canada, " when this weary war is over/' 

In case of an invasion caused by any quarrel with 
Great Britain, or by any policy for which the Canadians 
are not responsible, what ought they to expect from us ? 
Everything but impossibilities. Among the greatest of 
impossibilities would be protection of the whole of the 
frontier, with all the aid they could give us. The 
greatest w T ould be the defence of their territories with- 
out all the aid they could afford. The Canadians tell 



MUTUAL DUTIES. 191 

us that iii the liour of danger they will be ready, but as 
yet they hnve fallen short of that degree of preparation 
which we Lave a right to expect. If the blow falls at 
all it will come swift and strong, but if they do their 
duty to us there can be no fear of our failing them in 
the time of peril. 

The Honourable Joseph Howe has vindicated the 
claims of the colonies to the care, protection, and assis- 
tance of the mother country. He has pointed out the 
defects in our system, from which the inevitable neces- 
sity arises, that the colony shall become detached from 
the mother country, to become its rival, or probably 
its enemy at some future stage of its existence. Though 
California — 3000 miles away — is represented at Wash- 
ington; "though Algeria is represented at Paris ;" the 
provinces of North America have no representation in 
London. 

" Oar columns of gold," he exclaims, " and our pyra- 
mids of timber, may rise in your Crystal Palaces, but 
our statesmen in the great council of the empire never. 
Saxony or Wirtemberg are treated with a deference never 
accorded to Canada, though they are peopled by foreign- 
ers. The war of 1812-15 was neither sought nor pro- 
voked by the British Americans. It grew out of the 
continental wars, with which we certainly had as little 
to do. Whether a Bourbon or a Bonaparte sat upon 
the throne of France, was a matter of perfect indiffer- 
ence to us. We were pursuing our lawful avocations 
— clearing up our country, opening roads into the 
wilderness, bridging the streams, and organising so- 
ciety as we best could, trading with our neighbours, 
and wishing them no harm. In the meantime British 
cruisers were visiting and searching American vessels 



192 CANADA. 

on the sea. Then shots were fired, and, before we 
had time to recall our vessels engaged in foreign 
commerce, or to make the slightest preparation for 
defence, our coasts were infested by American crui- 
sers and privateers, and our whole frontier was in a 
blaze. 

" You count the cost of war by the army and navy 
estimates, but who can ever count the cost of that 
war to us ? A war, let it be borne in mind, into which 
we were precipitated without our knowledge or con- 
sent. Let the coasts of England be invaded by power- 
ful armies for three summers in succession; let the 
whole Channel from Falmouth to the Nore be menaced, 
let Southampton be taken and burnt, let the South- 
downs be swept from the Hampshire hills, and the rich 
pastures of Devonshire supply fat beeves to the enemy 
encamped in the western counties, or marching on 
Manchester and London ; let the youth of England be 
drawn from profitable labour to defend these great 
centres of industry, the extremities of the island being 
given up to rapine and to plunder; fancy the women 
of England living for three years with the sound of 
artillery occasionally in their ears, and the thoughts of 
something worse than death ever present to their ima- 
ginations ; fancy the children of England, with wonder 
and alarm on their pretty faces, asking for three years 
when their fathers would come home; fancy, in fact, 
the wars of the Roses or the civil wars back again, and 
then you can understand what we suffered from 1812 
to 1815. Talk of the cost of war at a distance; let 
your country be made its theatre, and then you will 
understand how unfair is your mode of calculation 
when you charge us with the army estimates, and give 



THE EFFECT OF WAR ON CANADA. 193 

us no credit for what we have done and suffered in 
your wars. 

" Though involved in the war of 1812 by no inte- 
rest or fault of our own ; though our population was 
scattered, and our coasts and frontiers almost defence- 
less; the moment it came, we prepared for combat 
without a murmur. I am just old enough to remember 
that war. The commerce of the Maritime Provinces 
was not a twentieth part of what it is now, but what 
we had was almost annihilated. Our mariners, de- 
barred from lawful trade, took to privateering, and 
made reprisals on the enemy. Our Liverpool f clip- 
pers' fought some gallant actions, and did some service 
in those days. The war expenditure gave to Halifax 
an unhealthy excitement, but improvement was stopped 
in all other parts of the province; and, when peace 
came, the collapse was fearful even in that city. Ten 
years elapsed before it recovered from the derangement 
of industry, and the extravagant habits fostered by the 
war. 

" A few regiments were raised in the Maritime Pro- 
vinces, their militia was organised, and some drafts 
from the interior were brought in to defend Halifax, 
whence the expeditions against the French Islands and 
the State of Maine were fitted out. Canada alone was 
invaded in force. 

" General Smith describes the conduct of the Cana- 
dian militia in the few but weighty words that become 
a sagacious military chieftain pronouncing a judgment 
on the facts of history. 

"In 1812 the Republicans attacked Canada with two 
corps, amounting in the whole to 13,300 men. The 
British troops in the Province were but 4500, of which 



194 CANADA. 

3000 were in garrison at Quebec and Montreal. But 
1500 could be spared for the defence of Upper Canada. 
From the capture of Michilimacinac, the first blow of 
the campaign, down to its close, the Canadian Militia 
took their share in every military operation. French 
and English, vied with each other in loyalty, steadiness, 
and discipline. 

" Of the force that captured Detroit, defended by 
2500 men, but a few hundreds were regular troops. 
Brock had but 1200 men to oppose 6300 on the 
Niagara frontier. Half his force were Canadian 
Militia, yet he confronted the enemy, and, in the 
gallant action in which he lost his life, left an im- 
perishable record of the steady discipline with which 
Canadians can defend their country. 

"The invading army of yeomen sent to attack 
Montreal were as stoutly opposed by a single brigade 
of British troops, aided by the militia. In the only 
action which took place the Canadians alone were 
engaged. The enemy was beaten back, and went into 
winter quarters. 

"In 1813, Canada was menaced by three separate 
corps. The Niagara district was for a time overrun, 
and York, the capital of the Upper Province, was taken 
and burnt. The handful of British troops that could 
be spared from England's European wars, were inade- 
quate to its defence ; but in every struggle of the cam- 
paign, disastrous or triumphant, the Canadian Militia 
had their share. The French fought with equal gal- 
lantry in the Lower Province. At Chateaugay, Colonel 
de Salaberry showed what could be done with those 
poor, undisciplined colonists, who, it is now the fashion 
to tell us, can only be made good for anything by 



IMPEHIAL APATHY. 195 

withdrawing them from their farms and turning 
them into regular soldiers. The American general 
had a force of 7000 infantry, 10 field pieces, and 250 
cavalry. De Salaberry disputed their passage into the 
country he loved, with 1000 bayonets, beat them back, 
and has left behind a record of more value in this 
argument than a dozen pamphlets or ill-natured 
speeches in parliament." 

"When the independence of the United States was 
established in 1783, they were left with one half of the 
continent, and you with the other. You had much 
accumulated wealth and an overflowing population. 
They were three millions of people, poor, in debt, with 
their country ravaged and their commerce disorganised. 
By the slightest effort of statesmanship you could have 
planted your surplus population in your own provinces, 
and, in five years, the stream of emigration would have 
been flowing the right way. In twenty years the 
British and Republican forces would have been 
equalised. But you did nothing, or often worse than 
nothing. From 1784 to 1841, we were ruled by little 
paternal despotisms established in this country. We 
could not change an officer, reduce a salary, or impose 
a duty, without the permission of Downing Street. 
For all that dreary period of sixty years, the Repub- 
licans governed themselves, and you governed us. 
They had uniform duties and free trade with each 
other. We always had separate tariffs, and have them 
to this day. They controlled their foreign relations — 
you controlled ours. They had their ministers and 
consuls all over the world, to open new markets, and 
secure commercial advantages. Your ministers and 
consuls knew little of British America, and rarely con- 

o 2 



196 CANADA. 

suited its interests. Till the advent of Huskisson, our 
commerce was cramped by all the vices of the old 
colonial system. The Republicans could open mines 
in any part of their country. Our mines were locked 
up, until seven years ago, by a close monopoly held in 
this country by the creditors of the Duke of York. 
How few of the hundreds of thousands of Englishmen, 
who gazed at Nova Scotia's marvellous column of coal 
in the Exhibition, this summer, but would have blushed 
had they known that for half a century the Nova 
Scotians could not dig a ton of their own coal without 
asking permission of half a dozen English capitalists 
in the city of London. How few Englishmen now 
reflect, when riding over the rich and populous states 
of Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Arkansas, that had 
they not locked up their great west, and turned it into 
a hunting ground, which it is now, we might have had 
behind Canada, three or four magnificent provinces, 
enlivened by the industry of millions of British sub- 
jects, toasting the Queen's health on their holidays, 
and making the vexed question of the defence of our 
frontiers one of very easy solution. 

" When the Trent affair aroused the indignant feel- 
ing of the empire last autumn, we were — as we were in 
1812 — utterly unprepared. The war again was none 
of our seeking. 

" Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had thousands 
of vessels^upon the sea, scattered all over the world. 
Canada had her thousand miles of frontier unprotected. 
Had war come, we knew that our money losses would 
have been fearful, and the scenes upon our sea-coasts 
and our frontiers, sternly painted as they must occur, 
without any stretch of the imagination, might well bid 



CANADA DURING THE TRENT AFFAIR. 107 

the ' boldest hold his breath for a time/ But, did a 
single man in all those noble provinces falter ? No ! 
Every man, ay, every woman accepted the necessity, 
and prepared for war. 

" Again it was a question of honour, and not of 
interest. In a week we could have arranged, by 
negociation, for peace with the United States, and 
have kept out of the quarrel. But who thought of 
such a thing ? Your homesteads were safe ; ours 
in peril. A British — not a colonial ship — had been 
boarded : but what then ? The old flag that had 
floated over our fathers' heads, and droops over their 
graves, had been insulted ; and our British blood 
was stirred — without our ever thinking of our pockets. 
The spirit and unanimity of the provinces, no less than 
the fine troops and war material shipped from this 
country, worked like a charm at Washington. Presi- 
dent Lincoln, like Governor Fairfield, saw clearly that 
he was to be confronted not only by the finest soldiers 
in the world, but by a united and high-spirited popula- 
tion. The effect was sedative ; the captives were given 
up. And the provincials — as is their habit, when there 
is no danger to confront — returned to their peaceful 
avocations." 

It may be necessary to make some allowance for the 
tinge of colonial patriotism in this passage, but after 
all the Hon. J. Howe is a transplanted Englishman. 
He speaks with the voice of some millions of people, 
and we must listen to it, or be prepared for a good deal 
of lukewarmness or " disloyalty." I have avoided any 
reference to the disputes which broke out into rebellion 
in 1S37, because no useful end would be gained by an 
account of an unfortunate schism which was produced 



1 98 CANADA. 

by want of judgment on the part of the Government 
at home, and by the extreme fanaticism of a party in 
the province. But the fanaticism has in no small 
degree been justified by what has since taken place. 
When " rebels " are pardoned, it may be a proof that 
the government which pardons is strong and generous. 
When "rebels" are not only restored to civic rights, 
but are invested with office, it is almost a demonstra- 
tion that the government which permits them to 
exercise important functions under it, was in error in 
the contest which drove these men to resistance. The 
rebellion in Canada had, however, nothing to do with 
the great question we are now discussing. We are 
approaching the larger subject, which is opened by the 
consideration of the arguments which are used by 
Imperialists and Colonists in their controversy respect- 
ing the magnitude and relation of the empire and the 
colony in war. 

It becomes of high practical value to consider what 
Canada can do, and what Canada has done in the 
direction of self-defence, should she be threatened 
with war, either from imperial or colonial causes. 
It can be no satisfaction to Canada to become a fief 
of the new Federal gwasi-republic because Great 
Britain failed in her duty; and all the references to 
the patriotism and exertions of valour of Canadians in 
past times, would reflect all the greater discredit on 
them now, when they enjoy rights and privileges 
unknown to their hardy ancestors. Let us first see 
what her resources and defensive powers are, and then 
cast a glance at what Canada and the British Provinces 
in North America have got to defend. The only 
military force Canada can employ is the militia. Her 



THE FUTURE. 199 

present proud position should induce the people of 
Canada to make every effort to preserve the conditions 
under which they enjoy so much liberty, happiness, and 
prosperity ; but she has in the future a heritage of 
priceless value, which she holds in trust for the 
great nation that must yet sit enthroned on the Lakes 
and the St. Lawrence, and rule from Labrador to 
Columbia. 



CHAPTER XII. 



The Militia — American Intentions — Instability of the Volunteer Prin- 
ciple—The Drilling of Militia— The Commission of 1862— The 
Duke of Newcastle's Views — Militia Schemes — Volunteer Force — 
Apathy of the French Canadians — The First Summons. 



In a country situated as Canada is, without well- 
defined obligations as regards the sovereign power, there 
can be but two kinds of military force available for 
defence — a militia and an organisation of volunteers. 
The first is essentially the proper constitutional force 
on which Canada must mainly rely in case of invasion. 
The second, notwithstanding its enormous importance 
and value, is but accidental. Unless Canada assumed 
towards us the relations of a protected state, like India, 
and raised an army officered by the British such as 
was that of Oude, or as that, to a certain extent, of 
some states at the present da} 7 , her volunteers could 
have no fixed and adequate value in a general scheme 
of defence. The Canadian militia must constitute the 
chief strength of Canada in operations on her territory. 
It would be impossible for Great Britain to do more 
than provide officers, money, arms, artillery, and ammu- 
nition — perhaps the head and backbone of the force 



AMERICAN INTENTIONS. 201 

which would be needed for a large system of campaigns. 
The only enemy Canada has to fear is the Northern 
Republic. I am quite willing to do every justice to 
the moderation of Mr. Seward, and to the pacific policy 
of Mr. Lincoln, but it cannot be disputed that the 
strength of the central Government will be much 
diminished on the cessation of the present conflict, and 
that whatever way it ends the Cabinet of Washington 
will be little able to oppose the passions of the people 
in the crisis which peace, whether it be one of humilia- 
tion or of triumph, will bring with it. Passion, the 
passion wrought of pride, love of dominion, national 
feeling, and the like, is far stronger than the silken 
bond of commerce. There is danger of war with Great 
Britain as soon as this war in America is over ; and the 
question is, how far Canada will be able to aid herself ? 
Because if she does not contribute largely to her own 
defence, it seems certain that British statesmen will not 
strive very strenuously to avert her doom. At the 
moment I write there is not, in a state of organised 
efficiency, one regiment of militia in the length, which 
is great, and the breadth, which is small, of Canada. 
Party violence has set at nought all warnings and all 
solicitations. The Canadians appear to rely on the 
traditions of the past, and on the result of the small cam- 
paigns in the war with America, without any apprecia- 
tion of the vast changes which have taken place since. 
Northern Americans, reaching their boundaries with 
pain and many a toilsome march, filtered small corps 
upon their soil — far inferior in numbers and equipment 
to those which now represent the quota of the smallest 
state in the Union. In my letters from America I called 
attention to the significant fact that the northernmost 



202 CANADA. 

point of the territory claimed by the Southern Con- 
federacy was within 120 miles of the lake which forms 
the southern boundary of Canada. It may not be 
likely that the Confederacy will ever make good its 
claim to Western Virginia, and fix its standard in un- 
disturbed supremacy at Wheeling, but it is nevertheless 
true that a strong passionate instinct urges the people 
of the North to consolidate the states of the West and 
those of the East by the absorption of Canada, which, 
with its lakes and its St. Lawrence, would be ample 
recompense for the loss of the South ; and, with the 
South in the Union, would be the consummation of 
the dream of empire in which Americans wide-awake 
pass their busy restless lives. The Americans are well 
aware of the vast advantage of striking a sudden blow. 
The whole subject of Canadian invasion lies developed 
in well-considered papers in the bureau drawers of 
Washington. At the time of the Trent affair I was 
assured by an officer high in rank in the government 
that General Winfield Scott had come back from 
France solely to give the State the benefit of his 
counsels and experience in conducting an invasion of 
Canada; and I cannot think it doubtful that the 
Federal Government would, in four or five weeks after 
a declaration of war with England, be prepared to pour 
120,000 or 150,000 men across the British frontier. 
What has Canada done to meet the danger ? In May, 
1S62, the Honourable John Macdonald proposed that a 
minimum of 30,000 men or a maximum of 50,000 men 
should be enrolled and drilled for one month every year 
for three or for five vears, but it was considered that 
Canada could not spare so large a number of men from 
the pursuits of trade, and above all of agriculture, during 



INSTABILITY OP THE VOLUNTEER PRINCIPLE. 203 

the open season when drill would be practicable. The 
measure was rejected, j Mr. Saudfield Macdonald, after 
the failure of this proposal, introduced and carried a 
measure which gave the Government a permissive 
power to call out the unmarried militiamen for six days' 
drill in every year, and which provided that militia 
officers might be attached to the regular regiments 
serving in Canada for two months every year in order 
to learn their duties. By the fundamental law of 
Canada the Government has the power of calling out 
in time of war, first, all eligible unmarried men be- 
tween 18 and 45 years of age; secondly, married men 
between 18 and 45 ; and finally, those males fit to carry 
arms between 45 and 60 years of age. Under these 
laws Canada should have a force of 470,000 men avail- 
able for service, and of these there are actually on the 
muster rolls of the militia 197,000 unmarried men 
between 18 and 31 years of age, whose service would 
be compulsory in case of need. The Canadian Parlia- 
ment voted half a million of dollars in each of the 
years 1863 and 1864 for military purposes, but the 
greater proportion of these sums was expended on 
the volunteers and on the staff of the militia. There 
has been no adequate return for the heavy drain 
such a sum causes on the Provincial exchequer. 
The best commentary on the voluntary system in 
militia drills is to be found in the fact that less 
than 10,000 men have been in attendance on 
them. 

With the experience we have had of the unstable 
character of volunteer forces in the field, it is not 
prudent for Canada to rely on her volunteers so much 
as she does. They have within their very body the 



204 CANADA. 

seeds of dissolution. Some corps can decree their dis- 
bandment at two months', others at six months' notice 
— in other words, they may melt away at the very crisis 
of the war. Does American volunteering teach us no- 
thing? In all human probability the South would 
have been struck to the earth at the first Battle of Bull 
Run, if the Pennsylvania volunteers had not presented 
to the w r orld the extraordinary and disgraceful spectacle 
of whole battalions under arms marching off from the 
field, as their unfortunate General McDowell expressed 
it, "to the sound of the enemy's guns." That was 
no isolated case. The desertion, at the same time, 
of other volunteer battalions under the equally unfor- 
tunate General Patterson in the Shenandoah Valley, 
left him unable to prevent the Confederate General 
Johnston marching with all his men to the aid of 
Beauregard. Over and over again the Federal leaders 
have been paralysed by similar defections, and it was 
not till they became strong enough to hold the volun- 
teers by force, as Meade did before lie made his attempt 
against Richmond, that the evil was cured. Had the 
Federals gained Bull Run, they were ready to have 
marched on Richmond at once — they would have 
found the city defenceless, and the South disorganised. 
Such a proof of Federal power as a decisive victory 
would, 1 believe, from what I saw in the South, 
have crushed the Secession party, and have strength- 
ened the adherents of the Union, who w r ere then 
numerous in many of the States. It might not have 
stopped the civil war, but it would have certainly given 
the most enormous preponderance to the North. The 
defeat mainly caused by McDowell's weakness in men, 
and the reinforcements received by the enemy in con- 



PROPORTIONS OF URBAN AND RURAL MILITIA. 205 

sequence of Patterson's inability to hinder their arrival, 
which was caused by the wholesale disbandment of 
volunteers, gave such an impetus to the Confederates, 
that their principle was carried triumphantly over the 
States, and crushed all opposition. We have seen what 
that defeat has cost the Federals since. In Canada 
the volunteers belong almost exclusively to the urban 
population — only a fifth come from rural districts ; and 
as the towns in Canada are very small, it is plain that 
the volunteer system would operate very injuriously on 
the trade of the cities, and would in all likelihood 
break down, without any imputation on the courage 
and patriotism of the townsmen. It is, of course, be- 
yond the power of Canada to cope with the people of 
the United States single-handed, but the agencies 
which England could bring to bear against the enemy 
on the American seaboard, and on all the seas fur- 
rowed by her ships, would damp the ardour which the 
Northerners would exhibit at the first onslaught. It 
would be, no doubt, a very deplorable and a very dis- 
graceful contest, but Great Britain would not be 
responsible for the beginning of hostilities. 

Just in proportion to the celerity and magnitude of 
their first successes would be the efforts of the Ameri- 
cans to secure their conquest. It is far easier to repel 
than to expel. A handful of militia, ill-drilled, 
supported by a similar force of volunteers of similar 
inefficiency, could offer no resistance to the swarms of 
invaders, and would but increase the stress to which 
the little army of Queen's troops in garrison here and 
there would be subjected at the outbreak of war. To 
all argument and entreaty, to insinuations and menace, 
Canada opposes the grand simplicity of her non 



206 CANADA. 

possumus. She is burthened with debt, and even 
without any expenditure for the militia her outlay is 
considerably more than her income. A party in 
Canada called for a regular agreement with the Govern- 
ment at home to regulate the amount to be paid by 
Canada, and the troops to be furnished by her, as a 
part of the British Empire. These troops were to con- 
sist of militia of the first class, to be drilled by detach- 
ments in each succeeding year, till the whole number, 
whether it were 50,000 or 100,000, should be properly 
disciplined. It was proposed by some advocates of this 
scheme that each body of militia should be called out 
for six months; and that when that period expired the 
men should be entitled to immunity from further drills 
till war broke out, when they would become liable for 
ten years' service, after which they would go into a 
reserve only to be used in great emergencies. 

Many modes of raising, maintaining, and drilling 
this force have been suggested; but as the principle 
was not adopted they are scarcely worth discussing. 
Drills for short periods are certainly of little or no 
avail ; and if money cannot be borrowed to put 100,000 
men in a state of readiness, the organisation of 50,000 
men to be drilled for three months in each year in 
bodies of 12,000 or 15,000 does not seem at all un- 
reasonable. The rate of wages in Canada is very high, 
and the lowest estimate for the support, pay, and cloth- 
ing of a militiaman for six months comes to about £20 
per man. It is, therefore, a simple sum in multiplica- 
tion to arrive at the ultimate figure of Canadian possu- 
mus in regard to the paying power of the Provinces. 
It is not true that if one man can be kept for £20 for six 
months two men can be kept for the same sum for three 



RELATIONS OF CANADA TO GREAT BRITAIN. 207 

months. The levy of 50,000 militiamen for six months 
would cost Canada, if she were alone, one million 
sterling. Mr. Cartwright has pointed out that Canada 
could discipline 100,000 militia, with half a year's in- 
struction each, for as much as would support a standing 
army of 2,000 men for the same period. We may be 
very angry with the Canadians for their happy security. 
It is not so very long ago since the Duke's letters to 
Sir John Burgoyne startled us out of a similar insouci- 
ance. We may feel that the sudden development of 
the United States has placed us in a very doubtful 
military position. It is not so easy to shake off the ob- 
ligations incurred by conquest and by emigration under 
the flag of Great Britain. In the face of very frigid 
warnings from the press, and very lukewarm enuncia- 
tions of policy from her best friends, Canada had some 
reason to fear that there is a secret desire " to let her 
slide/' and that nothing would please England so much 
as a happy chance which placed the Provinces beyond 
our care without humiliation or war. 

The duty of Canadians to their own country is very 
plain indeed if the people of England refuse to give 
them distinct guarantees that under certain conditions 
they will give them the whole aid of money, men, and 
ships that is required ; but these guarantees are implied 
in the very fact of suzerainty of the Crown. It must, 
however, be made known — if it be not plain to every 
Englishman — that the abandonment of Canada implies 
a surrender of British Columbia, of New Brunswick, 
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's, Newfoundland, if not 
also the West India Islands. Many bitter words written 
and spoken here rankle in the breasts of the Canadians, 
and I have quoted the words in which a Canadian 



208 CANADA. 

statesman has placed before Englishmen the terrible con- 
sequences which Canada may suffer from war, because 
she is a part of the British empire, engaged in a quarrel 
on imperial grounds with the Government of the United 
States. We do undoubtedly owe something to Canada, 
from the bare fact that for many years she resisted 
temptation, and remained under our flag unmoved by 
the blandishments and threats of the United States. 
In my poor judgment the abandonment of Canada 
would be the most signal triumph of the principle of 
democracy, and the most pregnant sign of the deca- 
dence of the British empire which could be desired by 
our enemies. No matter by what sophistry or by 
what expediency justified, the truth would crop out 
through the fact itself that we were retiring as the 
Romans did from Britain, Gaul, and Dacia, but that 
the retreat would be made in the face of united 
and civilised enemies, and that the sound of our 
recall would animate every nation in the world to come 
forth and despoil us. 

As yet there is no reason for such a pusillanimous 
policy. 

The Commission of 1862 laid it down as their opinion 
that an active force of 50,000, with a reserve of the 
same number, would be required for Canada; but as 
the bill founded on their report did not become law, 
the Canadian Government had no power to borrow 
arms from the home Government for the whole num- 
ber, as would have been the case had they passed the 
bill. Lord Monck, however, procured from the home 
Government a considerable augmentation of the sup- 
plies in store of artillery, small arms, ammunition and 
accoutrements. But the rejection of the Militia Bill 



THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE S VIEWS. 209 

of !Su2 filled the home Government with apprehension. 
The Duke of Newcastle, on the 20th of August of that 
year, wrote as follows : — 

" If I urge upon you the importance of speedily re- 
suming measures for some better military organisation 
of the inhabitants of Canada than that which now 
exists, it must not be supposed that Her Majesty's 
Government is influenced by any particular apprehen- 
sion of an attack on the Colony at the present moment, 
but undoubtedly the necessity for preparation which 
has from time to time been urged by successive Secre- 
taries of State is greatly increased by the presence, for 
the first time on the American Continent, of a large 
standing army, and the unsettled condition of the 
neighbouring States. Moreover, the growing impor- 
tance of the Colony, and its attachment to free insti- 
tutions, make it every day more essential that it should 
possess in itself that without which no free institutions 
can be secure — adequate means of self-defence. The 
adequacy of those means is materially influenced by 
the peculiar position of the country. Its extent of 
frontier is such that it can be safe only when its popu- 
lation capable of bearing arms is ready and competent 
to fight. That the population is ready, no one will 
venture to doubt j that it cannot be competent, is no 
less certain, until it has received that organisation, and 
acquired that habit of discipline which constitute the 
difference between a trained force and an armed mob. 
The drill required in the regular army, or even in the 
best volunteer battalion, is not necessary, nor would it 
be possible, in a country like Canada, for so large a 
body of men as ought to be prepared for any emer- 
gency ; but the Government should be able to avail 



210 CANADA. 

itself of the services of the strong and healthy portion 
of the male adult population at short notice, if the 
dangers of invasion by an already organised army are 
to be provided against. 

" We have the opinions of the best military authori- 
ties, that no body of troops which England could send 
would be able to make Canada safe without the efficient 
aid of the Canadian people. Not only is it impossible 
to send sufficient troops, but if there were four times 
the numbers which w r e are now maintaining in British 
North America, they could not secure the whole of the 
frontier. The main dependence of such a country must 
be upon its own people. The irregular forces which can 
be formed from the population, know the passes of the 
woods, are well acquainted with the country, its roads, 
its rivers, its defiles : and for defensive warfare (for 
aggression they will never be wanted), would be far 
more available than regular soldiers. 

" It is not therefore the unwillingness, or the in- 
ability of Her Majesty's Government to furnish suffi- 
cient troops, but the uselessness of such troops without 
an adequate militia force, that I wish to impress upon 
you. 

"In your despatch of the 17th May last, you in- 
formed me that there were then 14,760 volunteers 
enrolled, besides others who had been more or less 
drilled. It is far, indeed, from my intention to dis- 
credit either the zeal or the efficiency of these volun- 
teers, who have, I hope, greatly increased in number 
since the date of your despatch ; but they constitute a 
force which cannot suffice for Canada in the event of 
war. They might form an admirable small contingent ; 
but what would be required, would be a large army. 



THE DUKE OF NBWOASTLES VIEWS. 211 

They might form a force stronger than is necessary in 
time of peace to secure internal tranquillity, but would 
be inadequate to repel external attack in time of war. 
Past experience shows that no reasonable amount of 
encouragement can raise the number of volunteers to 
the required extent. 

" It appears to me that the smallest number of men 
partially drilled which it would be essential to provide 
within a given time, is 50,000. The remainder of the 
militia would of course be liable to be called upon in an 
emergency. Perhaps the best course would be, to drill 
every year one or more companies of each battalion of 
the sedentary militia. In this manner the training of 
a large number of men might be effected, and all com- 
panies so drilled should, once at least in two years, if 
not in each year, be exercised in battalion drill, so as 
to keep up their training. 

" I put forward these suggestions for the considera- 
tion of the Canadian Government and Parliament, but 
Her Majesty's Government have no desire to dictate 
as to details, or to interfere with the internal govern- 
ment of the Colony. Their only object is so to assist 
and guide its action in the matter of the militia as to 
make that force efficient at the least possible cost to the 
Province and to the mother country. 

" The Canadian Government will doubtless be fully 
alive to the important fact that a well organised system 
of militia will contribute much towards sustaining the 
high position with reference to pecuniary credit, which, 
in spite of its large debt, and its deficient revenue for 
the past few years, the Colony has hitherto held in the 
money markets of Europe. A. country which, however 
unjustly, is suspected of inability or indisposition to 

p 2 



212 CANADA. 

provide for its own defence, does not, in the present 
circumstances of America, offer a tempting field for 
investment in public funds or the outlay of private 
capital. Men question the stable condition of affairs 
in a land which is not competent to protect itself. 

" It may, no doubt, be argued on the other hand, 
that the increased charge of a militia would diminish 
rather than enlarge the credit of the Colony. I am 
convinced that such would not be the case, if steps 
were taken for securing a basis of taxation sounder in 
itself than the almost exclusive reliance on Customs 
duties. It is my belief that a step in this direction 
would not only supply funds for the militia, but would 
remove all apprehension which exists as to the resources 
of the Colony. 

" Whatever other steps may be taken for the im- 
proved organisation of the militia, it appears to Her 
Majesty's Government to be of essential importance 
that its administration, and the supply of funds for its 
support, should be exempt from the disturbing action 
of ordinary politics. Unless this be done there can be 
no confidence that, in the appointment of officers, and 
in other matters of a purely military character, no 
other object than the efficiency of the force is kept in 
view. Were it not that it might fairly be considered 
too great an interference with the privileges of the 
representatives of the people, I should be inclined to 
suggest that the charge for the militia, or a certain 
fixed portion of it, should be defrayed from the conso- 
lidated fund of Canada, or voted for a period of three 
or five years. 

" It has further occurred to me, that the whole of 
the British Provinces on the continent of North Ame- 



THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE S VIEWS. 213 

rica have, in this matter of defence, common interests 
and common duties. Is it impossible that, with the 
free consent of each of these Colonies, one uniform 
system of militia training and organisation should be 
introduced into all of them ? The numbers of men to 
be raised and trained in each would have to be fixed, 
and the expenses of the whole would be defrayed from 
a common fund, contributed in fair proportion by each 
of the Colonies. If the Governor- General of Canada 
were Commander-in-Chief of the whole, the Lieutenant- 
Governors of the other Colonies would act as Generals 
of Division under him ; but it would be essential that 
an Adjutant-General of the whole force, approved by 
Her Majesty's Government, should move to and fro, 
as occasion might require, so as to give uniformity to 
the training of the whole, and cohesion to the force 
itself. 

" As such a scheme would affect more than one 
Colony, it must, of course, emanate from the Secretary 
of State, but Her Majesty's Government would not 
entertain it unless they were convinced that it would be 
acceptable both to the people of Canada and to the 
other Colonies ; and they desire to know, in the first 
instance, in what light any such plan would be viewed 
by the members of your Executive Council. I under- 
stand that the Lieutenant-Governors of Nova Scotia 
and New Brunswick, availing themselves of the leave 
of absence lately accorded to them, intend to meet you 
in Quebec in the course of the ensuing month. This 
visit will afford you a good opportunity for consulting 
them upon this important question. 

" The political union of the North American Colonies 
has often been discussed. The merits of that measure, 



214 CANADA. 

and the difficulties in the way of its accomplishment, 
have been well considered ; but none of the objections 
which oppose it seem to impede a union for defence. 
This matter is one in which all the Colonies have inte- 
rests common with each other, and identical with the 
policy of England." 

The Government of the day presented a scheme 
which was rightly characterised by Lord Monck as 
containing no principle calculated to produce effective 
results, and to be entirely illusory and nugatory as far 
as the enrolment of the militia was concerned. Lord 
Monck enclosed the heads of a plan for the reorganisa- 
tion and increase of the active militia, based mainly on 
the voluntary principle, with rules for the erection of 
armouries, drill-sheds and rifle-ranges, and the appoint- 
ment of brigade-majors and sergeants, &c, and other 
means of a perfect organisation. The scheme was to 
raise an active battalion for each territorial division of 
the country corresponding with the regimental district 
of the sedentary militia, to be increased in number as 
needed, each active battalion to be taken from the sub- 
division of the district. Mr. Macdonald thought no 
Government could exist which would venture to recom- 
mend the raising of 50,000 partially trained militia, 
although the cost, spread over five years, would scarcely 
exceed the annual appropriations. In fact, at the root 
of all these various schemes and plans lay the evil of 
uncertainty. Canada did not know how far England 
would go in her defence, and seemed fearful of granting 
anything, lest it might be an obligation which the 
mother country would have otherwise incurred, whilst 
England, by withholding any definite promise, or 
indulging only in vague remonstrances, sought to 



THE MILITIA SCHEMES. 215 

make the Canadians show their hands. Each was 
anxious for an answer to the question, " How much 
will you give us ? " The Military Commissioners 
reported that Canada ought to provide 150,000 men, 
including the reserves, which force, large as it is, would 
be less than that furnished by states of smaller popu- 
lation in the Northern Union ; but Canada is very 
poor, and not unnaturally makes the most of the argu- 
ment that she can have no war of her own, and that 
her defence should be our affair. Xo one, I appre- 
hend, will allow himself to be beaten to death because 
there is no policeman by. 

In February, ] 563, a report of the state of the militia 
of the Province was prepared hy Lieutenant-Colonel 
de Salaberry and Lieutenant-Colonel Powell, of the 
Adjutant- General's of Militia Department in Lower and 
Upper Canada, respectively, from which it appears that 
there were then 25,000 volunteers organised, of whom 
10,230 belonged to Lower, and 14,780 belonged to 
Upper Canada. Of these there w T ere proportionately 
33 for every 1000 in the cities, and 71 for every 1000 
in the counties ; those in the upper section contributing 
less than those in the lower section, and Upper Canada 
contributing a larger number on the 1000 than 
Lower Canada. In the enumeration of the various 
companies — field batteries, troops of horse, companies 
of artillery, engineers, rifles, infantry, naval and marine 
companies — it is to be observed that only one naval 
company appears as having performed twelve days' drill. 
Some steps should be taken to develop naval and marine 
companies in the passes along the shores of the lakes. 
The importance of having trained sailors and gunners 
stationed just where they are wanted cannot be exag- 



216 CAXADA. 

gerated, but it is not very likely that Brigade-Majors 
will look after such a force. It must be remembered 
that the national force of Canada consists of two 
different organisations — the volunteer militia and the 
regular militia. Canada is divided into twenty-one 
military districts, eleven in Lower and ten in Upper 
Canada. In each district there is a Brigade-Major to 
superintend the drill and instruction of all volunteer 
companies, furnish monthly reports thereon, and by 
inspections and active organisation to promote the effi- 
ciency of the volunteer service as far as possible. The ap- 
pointment of these officers has been attended with very 
good results in this branch of the Militia Staff. In 
August, 1862, forty-six non-commissioned officers were 
sent out by Government, and paid by the Canadian 
Parliament, to drill volunteers ; and sixty-eight ser- 
geants were subsequently applied for to meet the 
increasing demand for instruction. The report of the 
Deputy Adjutant- Generals of Militia, presented to 
Lord Monck in 1863, stated— 

" Taking population as a basis, these Volunteer Corps 
are distributed as follows : — 

" Population all Canada (census 1861), 2,506,752,— 
present Volunteer force, 25,010, or say 10 Volunteers 
for each 1,000 inhabitants. 

" Population — Lower Canada. 

1,110,664 Volunteers, 10,230,— or say 9| for each 1,000. 

Upper Canada. 
1,396,088 Volunteers, 14,780,— or say 10§ for each 1,000. 

2,506,752 25,010 

" Population all Canada, showing proportion of 
Volunteers in cities and counties. 



VOLUNTEER FORCE. 217 

Cities, 257,273 Volunteers 8,525,— or say 83 for each 1,000. 
Rural, 2,249,479 „ 16,485,— or say 7^ for each 1,000. 

2,500,752 25,010 

" Population of Cities. 

Lower Canada, 153,389 Volunteers, 5,500, or say 36 for each 1,000. 
Upper Canada, 103,884 „ 3,025, or say 29 for each 1,000. 

257,273 8,525 

" Population of Rural Parts. 

Lower Canada, 957,275 Volunteers, 4,730, or say 5 for each 1,000. 
Upper Canada, 1,292,204 „ 11,755, or say 9 for each 1,000. 

2,249,479 16,485 

" It will thus be seen that in the cities of Canada, 
those in the Upper Section of the Province contribute 
less, in proportion to their population, than do those 
in the Lower Section ; while in the rural parts, Upper 
Canada contributes a larger number for each 1,000 
inhabitants than does Lower Canada, 

" The volunteering, thus far, has been the free-will 
offering of the people, and it is gratifying to observe 
that in the counties of Upper Canada, with the excep- 
tion of three, nearly every one has furnished its quota 
of the 25,000 now organised, while in many instances 
they are considerably beyond the proportionate number. 

"In Lower Canada, until of late, volunteer corps 
have been chiefly organised in the cities, but within the 
last six months a considerable number of volunteers 
have been organised in the rural parts, and now evi- 
dences are not wanting that ere long applications will 
be received at this department for permission to increase 
this number considerably. 

" The present volunteer force comprises field bat- 
teries, troops of cavalry, foot companies of artillery, 
engineer companies, rifle companies, companies of 



218 CANADA. 

infantry, and naval and marine companies, and is 
divided properly into three classes, viz. : Class A, and 
two divisions of Class B. 

" Corps in Class A are those who have furnished 
their own uniforms, and who have been paid §6.00, for 
each man uniformed, for 12 davs' drill performed in 
1862. 

" First corps in Class B who have furnished their own 
uniforms, and who have been paid $6.00 in lieu of 
clothing, after 12 days' drill performed in 1862. 

" Second corps in Class B who have been organised 
upon the understanding that they receive no pay for 
the 12 days' drill, but that the Government will pro- 
vide them with uniforms and drill instruction. 

" Of the corps in Class A, 6 field batteries, 11 troops 
of cavalry, 2 companies of foot artillery, and 33 rifle 
companies have certified to the performance of 12 days' 
drill in accordance with the General Order of the 4th 
November last, and have received from the Government 
§22,672 therefor. 

" Of the corps in Class B, 3 troops of cavalry, 8 foot 
companies of artillery, 2 engineer corps, 49 rifle com- 
panies, 15 companies of infantry and one naval com- 
pany have certified to the performance of 12 days' drill 
in accordance with the General Order of the 4th 
November last, and have received from the Government 
$20,952 therefor." 

In the twenty-one districts there were recorded 
468 battalions of sedentary militia. Seventy-six drill 
associations, composed of the officers and non-com- 
missioned officers, had been formed, and were to be 
supplied with arms and instructors, to which number 
considerable additions have since been made. The 



MILITIA AND VOLUNTEERS. 219 

total number of militia men in Lower Canada was 
estimated at 190,000; in Upper Canada, at 280,000. 
In the former, 63,000 first-class service men; in the 
latter, only 33,000 first-class service men. Second- 
class, 58,000 and 83,000 respectively. Reserve, 20,000 
and 25,000 respectively. The cities of Upper Canada 
gave 29 volunteers for every 1000 — the rural districts 
only 9 volunteers for every 1000. In three counties 
containing 50,000 people there was no volunteer or 
volunteer corps. In thirteen counties the average 
number of volunteers was 250, and in sixteen counties 
it was only 125. 

In Lower Canada, however, the zeal of the people 
for militia volunteering was by no means remarkable. 
Thirty counties, with a population of 450,000, had not 
a single volunteer corps, nor one volunteer. The towns 
gave 36 volunteers per 1000, the rural districts only 
5 per 1000. In fact, the people of French descent 
appeared to consider militia volunteering a sort of 
playing at soldiers, which had no particular attractions 
for them. England had taken them in charge, and 
might do as she liked with them. 

By degrees, a great change occurred in the senti- 
ments if not in the actions of the people. A little 
more address in dealing with their prejudices ; a little 
more of a conciliatory tone ; somewhat greater tact in 
legislative business, produced beneficial results. The 
foundation, at all events, was laid of a sound militia 
bill. The Commissioners who reported in 1862, in- 
cluding Mr. Cartier, Mr. John A. Macdonald, Mr. 
Galfc, and Colonel Lysons, proposed a scheme which was 
very comprehensive and ably conceived ; but it was not 
considered suitable to the means of the country by the 



220 CANADA. 

politicians, and the debates which arose on the Militia 
Bill prepared in accordance with its recommendations, 
were characterised by an acrimony and party spirit 
which flavoured the subsequent discussions on the same 
subject. They recommended complete battalions as 
the base of the system, for reasons which are in the 
abstract irrefutable. They then recommended that 
the Province should be divided into military districts, 
as the Commander-in-Chief might direct, and that 
each military district should be divided into regimental 
divisions. They further recommended as follows : — 

" That in order to facilitate the enrolment, relief and 
reinforcement of an active force, each regimental division 
be divided into ' sedentary battalion divisions/ and be 
sub-divided into ' sedentary company divisions/ 

"That each regimental division shall furnish one 
active and one reserve battalion, to be taken as nearly 
as practicable in equal proportions from the male popu- 
lation of such division, between the ages of 18 and 45. 

" That each company of an active battalion, together 
with its corresponding reserve company, be taken from 
within the limits of a defined territorial division, the 
boundary of which shall be identical with that of a 
sedentary battalion division, or of a distinct portion of 
such division. 

" That in order to accommodate the sedentary bat- 
talion divisions to the organisation of the active batta- 
lions, the limits of the former be, where necessary, 
re-arranged. 

"We recommend that each of the principal cities of 
the Province, namely — Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, 
Kingston, Toronto, Hamilton, and London, with such 
portions of the surrounding country as may, from time 



THE FIBST SUMMONS. 221 

to time, be added to them by the Commander-in-Chief, 
shall constitute a military district, to be divided into 
regimental and sedentary battalion divisions, as herein- 
before detailed; that they be allowed to furnish 
volunteer militia of the three arms in the proportions 
hereinafter detailed in lieu of active battalions of regular 
militia. In the event of these cities failing to furnish 
their full complement of volunteers, they shall in part, 
or altogether, fall under the general regulations of the 
regular militia, in such manner as the Commander-in- 
Chief shall direct/ 5 

The recommendations of the Commissioners were to 
some extent acted upon ; and since the foregoing pages 
were written the first-fruits of the volunteer organisa- 
tion have been witnessed, in the actual appearance 
on service of a number of companies, which have been 
dispatched to guard the frontiers of Canada from being 
made the base of offensive operations against the 
Northern States by Confederate partisans sheltered for 
the time under the British banner. These are but the 
advance guard of the 80,000 men who have been 
ordered to hold themselves in readiness for active 
service. 

The summons of the Governor-General has been 
heard and obeyed in the best spirit. The people of 
Canada have answered to the call with an honourable 
alacrity, and have displayed a temper which gives the 
fairest guarantee of their services ; but they have not 
indulged in threats or offensive language, and the most 
irritable of Federal Republicans must admit that the 
cause which has called them from their homes is 
entitled to consideration and respect. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Possible Dangers — The Future Danger — Open to Attack — Canals and 
Railways — Probable Lines of Invasion — Lines of Attack and De- 
fence — London — Toronto— Defences of Kingston — Defences of 
Quebec. 

The return of able-bodied males fit for military service 
in Montcalm's time, exceeded the whole number of 
volunteers now actually enrolled ; but the present force 
is possessed of seven field batteries, of several squadrons 
of cavalry, and of 15,000 men armed with rifled mus- 
kets. There must be at this moment in Canada at 
least 50,000 rifles of the best kind. There were four 
18-pound batteries, two 20-pound Armstrong batteries, 
a large number of howitzers, and an immense accu- 
mulation of stores last year, which have received con- 
stant accessions ever since, as the threats of the New 
York press have produced to us in increased expense 
some of the evil results of war. There are also in the 
stores great quantities of old-fashioned brass and iron 
field and siege guns, of shot and shell, of mortars, and 
of ammunition. 

The Americans can find no fault with us for taking 
steps, in view of contingencies which they have 



POSSIBLE DANGERS. 223 

threatened, to obviate, as far as possible, the disad- 
vantages to which distance from the mother country 
exposes the Provinces. It was enough that before the 
clays of steam, which has greatly increased the dis- 
parity between us, Great Britain submitted to condi- 
tions in regard to the Lakes which could only be justi- 
fied by the supposition that Canada was the western 
shore of Great Britain. By the articles of the Treaty 
of 1817, the United States of America and Great 
Britain are limited to one vessel with one IS-pounder 
and a crew of one hundred men each on Lake Ontario, 
Lake Champlain, and the upper lakes. No other 
vessels of war are to be built or armed, and six months 3 
notice is required to terminate the treaty obliga- 
tions. 

It will have been observed that the Americans of the 
Northern States are spoken of as the only enemies 
whom Canada has to fear. They are the only people 
who threaten from time to time the conquest and 
annexation of the Provinces, and who have declared by 
the mouths of their statesmen, that they intend to insist, 
when they are strong enough, on the fulfilment of the 
doctrine that the whole continent is theirs; for the natural 
basis of the Monroe dogma is, the right of the Americans 
to lay down the doctrine at all, and if they can say to 
the nations of Europe, " You shall make no further 
settlements on this soil," they can say, when it pleases 
them, with just as much right, "You who are now 
occupying this soil must either leave it or own alle- 
giance to the Union/' The Union is now, what it 
never was before, a sovereignty, and Americans in its 
name fancy that they can do what they please. The 
Canadians are by no means well-disposed towards their 



2~i CANADA. 

neighbours' institutions, manners, and customs, and 
do not desire to be incorporated with them. The an- 
nexation must, therefore, be effected by force, suffi- 
ciently great to overpower the resistance of the inhabi- 
tants, whether singly, or supported by the British army 
and navy. 

It fortunately happens that the freedom of speech 
and writing prevalent in the United States are safety- 
valves for the popular steam, and that words are not 
always indicative of immediate or even of remote 
action. It would be difficult to estimate the nature of 
the influences which shall prevail when the American 
civil war is over. If the North suceeeds in over- 
coming the South, no great danger of war with Great 
Britain or of invasion of Canada will exist. It will 
need every man of the Federal army to occupy the 
Southern States. If, on the other hand, the North 
should be obliged to abandon her project of forcing 
the carcase of the South back into the Union by the 
sword, she will suddenly find herself with a large 
army on her hands, with a ruined exchequer, and 
an immense fund of mortified ambition and angry 
passion to discount. 

It is possible that the sober and just-minded men 
who form a large part of American society may be able 
to avert a conflict, if the American soldiery and states- 
men entertain the views attributed to them ; but that 
is just the point on which no information exists. It is 
not easy to ascertain the actual weight of the classes 
who would naturally oppose the press and the populace 
in a crusade against Great Britain. My own experience, 
limited and imperfect as it is, leads me to think that there 
is in the States a very great number, if not an actual 



THE FUTURE DANGER. 225 

majority, of people whose views are not much in- 
fluenced by violent journals or intemperate politicians; 
who rarely take part in public affairs, but exercise, 
nevertheless, their influence on those who do. There 
is not a community in the Northern States which does 
not contain a large proportion of educated, intelligent, 
and upright men, who shrink from participation in 
party struggles and intrigue ; and I regret that they 
are not more largely known. Their existence is 
marked by no outward sign which foreign nations 
can recognise. It is on them, however, that the safety 
and reputation of the Federal Government depends; 
it will be on them that their country's reliance must be 
placed when the legions return home. 

If the war were over in 1865 there would probably 
be 600,000 men under arms, and there would be 
at least 200,000 more men in the States who had 
served, and would take up arms against England 
with alacrity. A considerable proportion of that army 
would indeed seek their discharge, and go quietly 
back to their avocations; but the Irish, Germans, 
&c, to whom the license of war was agreeable, would 
not be unwilling to invade Canada, and a per centage 
of Americans would doubtless eagerly seek for an 
opportunity of gaining against a foreign enemy the 
laurels they had not found whilst contending with their 
fellow countrymen. Commerce indeed would suffer — 
the Americans would find for the first time what it was 
to enter upon a quarrel single-handed with the British 
nation. They have hitherto met only the side blows 
and stray shots of the old mother country — and they 
believe they have encountered the full weight of her 
arm, and the utmost extent of her energies. The 



22G C AX AD A. 

wicked men who are striving to engage the two States 
in a quarrel which would cover the seas of the world 
with blood and wreck, cannot be deterred from their 
horrible work by any appeals to fear or conscience; but 
the influence of the past, and of the Christian and civi- 
lised people of the ex-United States will, it is to be 
hoped, defeat their efforts, seconded though they may 
be by the prejudice, religious animosity, and national 
dislike of a portion of the people. If the war party 
prevail they will have no want of pretexts — the San 
Juan question alone would suffice them if they had 
not a whole series of imaginary wrongs to resent 
arising from the incidents of the present war, and a 
multitude of claims to prefer to which England can 
never listen. 

At some day, near or remote, Canada must become 
either independent in whole or in part, or a portion of 
a foreign state. It will be of no small moment for 
those then living in Great Britain whether they have 
alienated the affections or have won the hearts of the 
newly-created power. Those who doubt this may consider 
how a Gaul now rules over the ruler of Rome, and how 
all that remains of an evidence of the occupancy of this 
Island by the masters of the world for four hundred 
years, are tumuli, ruined walls, stratified roads, and 
bits of tile and pottery. The climate of Canada is not 
more severe than that of Russia — her natural advan- 
tages are much greater — her inland seas are never 
frozen — her communications with Europe are easy — 
she offers a route to all the world from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific. The United States will be no longer 
a country for the poor man to live in; the load of 
taxation will force emigration to Canada, and the States 



OPEN TO ATTACK. 227 

lying on the left banks of the lakes and of the St. 
Lawrence will be enriched by the demands of America 
for her produce, in proportion as the waste lands are 
occupied, and the Union is filled with a tax-paying 
swarming population. It is astonishing how soon a 
man liberates himself from the traditions and allegiance 
of his native country in the land of his adoption, when 
his interests and his pride are touched. The attitude 
of our immediate colonies in face of the transportation 
question will at once satisfy us that the mother country 
has little to expect from old associations, whenever her 
interests are made to appear antagonistic to those of her 
colonies. Canada has the most liberal institutions in 
the world — her municipal freedom is without parallel — 
education is widely disseminated — religious toleration 
restrains the violence of factions. The cold is by no 
means as great as that which is borne by the inha- 
bitants of the greater part of northern Europe, and is 
far less dangerous to health than the more temperate 
climates of lower latitudes, where rain and tempest are 
substituted for snow and hard frosts. 

The frontier of Canada is assailable at ail points. 
In some places it is constituted by a line only visible 
on a map, in others it is a navigable inland sea, in 
others a line drawn in water, in others the bank of a 
river or the shore of a lake. Coincident with it runs 
the frontier of the United States. 

The best guarantee against invasion would be, complete 
naval supremacy on the lakes and rivers, because they 
constitute the most accessible roads for the invaders, 
and the most serviceable barriers for defenders if they 
have the proper means of defence. To give any chance 
of successful resistance, some equality of naval force 

Q 2 



228 CANADA. 

on the part of the invaded is almost indispensable. The 
question arises, who shall provide this naval force? 
Canada cannot. She is prevented by Imperial treaties, 
by want of means, and even if she had them, she is 
forbidden to use the means, by the principle which for- 
bids a dependency equipping ships of war in times of 
peace. Great Britain has no doubt a powerful fleet, 
but the far inferior navy of the United States, close at 
hand, contains more vessels suitable for warlike opera- 
tions in inland waters and canals than we possess, 4000 
miles away. In fact we ought to have a very great 
preponderance of small vessels to give us a fair start, 
and even then it would be difficult to begin hostilities 
on equal terms. Lake Michigan, with the enormous 
resources of Chicago, is entirely American, and the 
possession of such a base is an advantage which is by 
no means counterbalanced by our position on Lake 
Huron. To prevent the enemy clearing all before 
them on the lakes, by an energetic naval sortie from 
their ports, it would be necessary to have the means of 
furnishing a flotilla as soon as hostilities became immi- 
nent, and to watch every point, particularly such as 
that of Sorel, where communication from Richelieu to 
the St. Lawrence might be interrupted. But it is 
thought we cannot hope to cope with the Americans 
on equal terms in all the lakes, and that we must be 
content with concentrating our strength on Lake 
Ontario and in the St. Lawrence. All our water- 
ways are very much exposed. "Whilst Great Britain 
retains her supremacy, the St. Lawrence is open during 
the summer, and can be kept free by iron-plated vessels 
as far up as Montreal. The day of wooden gunboats has 
passed, and it becomes requisite for the Government to 



CANALS AND RAILWAYS. 229 

take immediate steps to secure an adequate supply of 
armoured vessels on the spot as soon as hostilities 
become probable. It is gratifying to know that the 
Canadian Legislature is about to fortify the harbour 
and arsenal at Kingston, so as to cover the infant 
naval force. Under any circumstances, it is not pos- 
sible to defend a canal by guarding the locks, or by 
placing forts at particular places, and yet the canals are 
of vital importance to us. The Beauharnais Canal runs 
on the right bank of the St. Lawrence, and is pecu- 
liarly unfortunate in its military position. The Wel- 
land Canal is of consequence, but it would be better to 
destroy it than permit an enemy to hold it. The Eideau 
Canal, which runs from Lake Huron to Kingston, is a 
very valuable communication, but it needs to be deepened 
and enlarged at the Rapids. All the canals require to be 
enlarged and improved, but they are far better placed, 
bad as their state and position are, than the roads and 
railways. The Grand Trunk Railway is open to attack 
for many miles at different parts of its course, and 
in some places trains could be fired upon from 
American territory ! Our reinforcements last winter 
were sent through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 
in sleighs, along a route which for miles could be cut 
across at any time by the enemy from Maine, and it 
would be necessary, to make all safe, for us to follow 
the Metapodliac road, or to construct the intercolonial 
railway. 

The harbours of Halifax and of St. John's are not 
closed in winter, and the mode which was adopted of 
sending troops into Canada by those points would no 
doubt be reverted to till some better means shall be 
provided. From St. Andrew's, in New Brunswick, 



230 CANADA. 

there is a railroad to Woodstock, which lies near the 
state boundary of Maine. Here the route from St. 
John's meets the St. Andrew road, and united the line 
follows the course of the St. John River, and may be 
divided into four days' marches — to Florenceville, 1 ; to 
Tobique, 2 ; to Grand Falls, 3 ; to Little Falls, 4. All 
this route lies close to the American frontier, and is 
therefore quite unfit for the march of troops in detach- 
ments. The St. John's route also takes four days to 
Woodstock. Even with the advantages afforded by the 
line of railroad, it must be remembered that the snows 
of winter may often mar all combinations; — our first 
detachments suffered considerably from cold in the 
railway carriages, and it may be readily conceived that 
the course of an army in sleighs to Riviere du Loup on 
the St. Lawrence, where the Grand Trunk Railway 
begins or terminates, might be rendered very unsafe 
by no more formidable agencies than violent snow 
storms alone. 

Our military authorities do not, it is said, fear a winter 
campaign, but the Americans have already shown that 
they are not to be deterred by frost and snow from moving 
troops into Canada. To ensure moderate security the 
Metis road, notwithstanding its greater length, should 
be improved and adapted for military purposes, and the 
railway should be constructed to complete the work. 
In considering the three modes of invasion of which 
I shall speak, it may be inferred that Montreal will 
be the most likely point of attack, and that Quebec 
will be comparatively safe at first, but it would not 
be wise to act on the hypothesis as if it were an abso- 
lute certainty. 

In the State of New York, at its capital of Albany, 



PROBABLE LINES OP INVASION. 231 

the Americans possess an admirable base of operations 
against us. Except in winter, the Hudson is an open 
highway between Albany and New York, and the sea 
and railways connect it with the shores of the lakes and 
with the vast centres of American resource and industry. 
Albany is specially capable of serving as a base against 
the very places most likely to be assailed, Montreal 
and Quebec. There is no necessity for any argument 
to show that the loss of these places would be equiva- 
lent to the overthrow of the British in Canada. From 
the Hudson there is a canal to Lake Champlain, on the 
upper extremity of which, and almost on the railroad 
connecting Montreal with New York, is situated a case- 
mated work popularly known as House's Point, about 
two days' march from the commercial capital of Canada. 
Rouse's Point would serve as an immediate base for the 
collection of supplies and the concentration of an army, 
whilst Albany would become the great depot for the 
war. /It is probable that the Americans would try to 
strike several blows at once. They might direct one expe- 
ditionary force from House's Point against Montreal, and 
others from Albany and House's Point against Quebec. 
They might also menace, or actually attack, the frontier 
at Detroit or at Niagara. As a war with Great Britain 
would be popular, and no lack of men would be found, 
it would also be practicable for them to direct from 
either of those points an expedition to attack Ottawa, 
or the towns west of the river Ottawa. 

Kingston would also be a point of attack, as much 
from its importance to us as from its value to the 
enemy, who would, by the possession of it, command 
the Bideau Canal, which connects the river Ottawa with 
Lake Ontario. It is plain that if the points liable to 



232 CANADA. 

attack were left in their present state, there would be 
little hope of our ability to defend them by fighting in 
the open field. United, the Americans are to the 
Canadians as about eight to one. The State of New 
York alone is as populous, and is richer, than the 
Canadas. Great Britain, thousands of miles away, could 
not hope, by any expenditure of money, or by any dis- 
play of military skill, to equalise the conditions of the 
assailants and the defenders of her sovereignty. The 
engineers are right, therefore, in the argument, that 
the only way of enabling the Canadians and their 
British allies to make way against the Republicans, is 
to establish fortified works supported by or supporting 
a naval force. The Americans have an idea that it is 
possible to carry on operations during winter. Our 
engineers start with the assumption that it is impossible 
to do so on any large scale, and that it is out of the 
question for some five months of the year in Canada. 
The obstructions to siege operations might not be so 
serious, but they would be so considerable as to render 
the undertaking of them exceedingly hazardous, and 
little likely to succeed. The question, then, presents 
itself whether Canada can be defended for the time in 
each year during which operations are practicable, and 
if so, in what manner the defence is to be conducted. 
Our military authorities are of opinion that Canada can 
be defended. The Americans, as far as I could judge 
from their remarks on the subject, and from conversa- 
tions with several of their officers, conceive that Canada 
lies at their mercy whenever they choose to attack it. 
As a chain of great frontier fortresses could not be esta- 
blished or maintained, the means suggested for the 
purposes of defence are principally of a provisional 



LINES OF ATTACK AND DEFENCE. 233 

character. To meet the flood of invasion, it is proposed 
to cover the approaches to the vulnerable points. Ot- 
tawa, Montreal, and Quebec would be defended by 
forces posted in earthworks, and covered by entrenched 
camps at Prescott and Richmond, and other suitable 
places. 

If we examine the modes of proceeding to which 
the enemy would probably resort, we shall find them 
classified under five heads. First, a naval descent on 
Goderich. Second, the descent of a force between 
Detroit and London. Thirdly, the descent of a force 
on Niagara. Fourthly, the passage of a force between 
the St. Lawrence and Ogdensburg. Fifthly, an attack 
by several columns converging in concert on a point 
between Derby and Huntingdon, with a view of con- 
centrating on Montreal, and cutting the communi- 
cations with Kingston as well as with Quebec. Let us 
take a glance at the present state of the principal points, 
and consider what is needed to improve their con- 
dition. 

If we look at the map of Upper Canada, the position 
of Paris at once attracts the eye as a favourable site for 
the main body of the defensive force ; whilst Stratford 
and London, being points of railway junction, would 
naturally be held as long as possible. Guelph would 
serve as a point of concentration for troops obliged to fall 
back from London or from Stratford, according to the 
direction from which the enemy came. Toronto would 
become the natural point of concentration for troops 
obliged to retire from Guelph, and under the conditions 
necessitating such a retreat the force defending the 
Niagara frontier would be obliged to fall back upon 
Hamilton to the entrenched position covering that 



231 CANADA. 

town. If the Americans attack the western settlements 
near Georgian Bay, it seems impossible to oppose them 
with assured advantage. A calm consideration of the 
subject has led the best authorities to the conclusion 
that we cannot hope at present to establish a naval 
force on either Lake Huron or Lake Erie. The Wel- 
land Canal is, in its present state, unsuited to the 
purposes of modern naval warfare, and a canal is at all 
times, and under the most favourable circumstances, 
very little to be depended upon. With the aid of forti- 
fied harbours there is, however, no reason to fear for 
our naval supremacy on Lake Ontario, and it is to that 
object our best efforts should be directed. It would of 
course be impolitic to leave Toronto and Hamilton open 
to naval demonstrations, but the principal efforts of the 
authorities should be directed to establish permanent 
works to protect Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston, and 
Quebec, and to prepare positions for entrenched camps 
and earthworks on the points most likely to be as- 
sailed. 

It is plain that a navy alone can prevent descents 
on the land line of such extensive waters, and that the 
possession of Rouse's Point enables the Americans to 
turn the line of the Richelieu and threaten Montreal. 
Let us run rapidly over the positions, beginning with 
the west. If works were thrown up at Goderich and 
Sydenham on points there which are suitable for defen- 
sive positions, it might be possible to check any adven- 
turous force intent on speedy victory and conquest; but 
no fortifications could be maintained on those remote 
points for permanent occupation, as the enemy could 
operate on the flanks and rear and turn them from 
Huron or Georgian Bay. 



LONDON — TORONTO. 235 

A permanent work on Point Edward Sarnia, to com- 
mand the St. Clair River, has been suggested, and it 
has been recommended that the defences of Fort 
Maldon and Bar Island should be made permanent 
works, but other engineers have considered it unwise 
to erect fortifications at Sarnia or Amherstburg, and 
contend that the Niagara and Detroit frontiers are too 
much exposed to be tenable by any works. Guelph 
should also be rendered worthy of its important posi- 
tion. London, being a railway station, is, in event of 
a war, an important point to hold for the carriage of 
troops; and although there is no ground close at 
hand admitting of tenacious grip, there is a tolerably 
good line of defence at Konoska, which the spade could 
convert into a fair position. 

When we come to consider the condition of the 
Toronto district it becomes apparent that two points 
require especial attention — Fort Dalhousie and Port 
Colborne. It is unwise to leave these places without 
defences to cover the garrisons, and to enable them to 
protect the shore against desultory operations and 
isolated detachments. Domville and Maitland are open 
to predatory attacks which might be prevented by ordi- 
nary fortifications or earthworks on eligible sites. It 
is impossible to defend a canal; but much good might 
be done by enlisting the employes on the Welland as a 
sort of guard, whose local knowledge would be avail- 
able in time of danger. Although, as I have said, 
strong reasons are urged against any outlay for the 
defence of the Niagara frontier, on the ground of its 
exposure, there are distinguished authorities who insist 
that a permanent work is required at Fort Erie ; and 
who contend that another fort should be erected at 



236 CANADA. 

Niagara, in support of an entrenched camp, which 
would exercise a most powerful influence over the 
movements of an invading force, particularly if there 
were gunboats placed on the Chippewa. One of the 
painful necessities of war between the United States 
and Great Britain would be the destruction of the 
suspension bridges over the river. Hamilton is generally 
considered as incapable of defence, but it lies in a dis- 
trict which presents two lines of hills capable of being 
adapted to defensive purposes, and earthworks there 
might be stiffly held, in case of attack, by the troops 
of the district, to enable the forces to concentrate and 
retire along routes previously determined. Toronto 
itself may be regarded as an open place equally in- 
capable of defence by ordinary works ; but it should 
not be left open to such a coup by a single cruiser, as 
might be obviated by the erection of a fort on the site 
of the new barracks : and it would be necessary to con- 
struct a strong entrenched camp to cover it and protect 
the troops retiring before the enemy. A chain of 
earthworks might be placed on the elevated ridges 
which run from the Don River towards Humber Bay. 
A casemated fort on the island is also most desirable. 
Toronto has something more than its mere strategical 
importance to recommend it. It has special claims to 
consideration as an important centre of civilised life, 
commerce, enterprise, and learning. 

The defences of Kingston are more worthy of its 
ancient importance. In fact, the only works in Canada 
suited to modern warfare are those at Kingston 
and Quebec. The latter are capable of much im- 
provement, as has been already pointed out. Both 
need to be strengthened, and to be extended. If the 



DEFENCES OF KINGSTON. 237 

Americans have beaten us by treaty, why should we 
not at all events have iron-plated vessels sent up the 
St. Lawrence as far as treaty will allow them to go, 
and prepare naval establishments and encourage naval 
volunteers for times of danger at Kingston? Fort 
Henry, Fort Frederick, an earthen work, and the 
Market Battery, are in good condition, but much must 
be done before the place can be regarded as being in 
a satisfactory state. The Shoal Tower, the Cedar 
Island Tower, and the Murney Tower, constructed of 
stone, are placed on points covering the water ap- 
proaches to Kingston. But all the guns in these 
works, with one exception, are en barbette, and to 
render Kingston safe it would be necessary to erect 
strong works to resist the advance of an enemy landing 
either above or below the town. It is estimated that 
£390,000 would be sufficient for the purpose of erect- 
ing the permanent forts absolutely indispensable for 
the safety of the harbour and dockyard establishment. 
The position of these works should be chosen with a 
due regard to all possible conditions of attack. Wolfe 
Island, Abraham's Head, Snake Island, Simcoe Island, 
and Garden Island, should be provided with adequate 
forts to support the new scheme of defence. The Navy 
Yard should be removed, and the points now open to 
attack at once fortified. Belleville and Prescott both 
afford admirable ground for works of great importance : 
the former possesses a most advantageous site for tem- 
porary works and for a line of defence ; and the latter 
has such a commanding situation that a permanent 
work, with casemates, should be constructed there to 
guard what is, according to some of our engineers, one 
of the most valuable positions in the province. 



238 CANADA. 

When we come to consider the actual state of Mon- 
treal, its importance, its liability to attack and the 
difficulty of offering an adequate defence, the best 
means to adopt are not very obvious. The best method 
of defence would doubtless be to construct an entrenched 
position, consisting of a parapet strengthened by re- 
doubts, to cover the approach from the south side. A 
tete de pont should be built to cover the approaches 
now so open and exposed to attack. 

The enlargement of the Ottawa and Eideau canals 
is of obvious importance, and outlying works might be 
traced which could be used in case of invasion to hold 
the enemy in check ; but still, as a precautionary mea- 
sure, it would be desirable to remove the more important 
stores at Montreal to Quebec and Ottawa, if it is in 
contemplation to make this valuable position subsidiary 
to any other place in Canada. 

Permanent works might be erected at St. John's, 
the Isle aux Noix and St. Helen's Island, where forts 
should be reconstructed on improved principles. But 
the most obvious measure, in the opinion of some engi- 
neers, the fortification of the hill over the city, and the 
erection of a Citadel upon it, which would render the 
mere occupation of the town below valueless to an 
enemy, is not approved of by more recent authori- 
ties. 

Gunboats on Lake St. Louis would prove most valua- 
ble in defending the works at Vaudrueuil. 

Quebec is however the key of Canada ; and that key 
can be wrested from our own grasp at any moment by 
a determined enemy, unless the recommendations so 
strongly urged from time to time by all military 
authorities meet with consideration. The old enceinte 



DEFENCES OF QUEBEC. 239 

should be removed, and the French works restored, 
according to the suggestions of scientific officers, 
and of the ablest engineers we possess. An entrenched 
camp might be marked out to the west of the Citadel, 
with a line of parapet and redoubts extending from 
the St. Lawrence to the- St. Charles river. In order 
to cover the city from an attack on the south side, it 
would be necessary to occupy Point Levi, and to con- 
struct a strong entrenched line, with redoubts at such 
a distance as would prevent the enemy from coming 
near the river to shell the city and citadel. But it is 
evident that they are nil ad rem, unless behind these 
works, and in support of them in the open, can be 
assembled a force of sufficient strength to prevent an 
investment, or to attack the investing armies, and at 
the same time to hold front against them in the field. 
It is estimated that 150,000 men might hold the whole 
of the Canadas, East and West, against twice that 
number of the enemy. If we are to judge by what 
has passed, it is not probable the United States will be 
inclined or able for such an effort. Quebec might be 
held with 10,000 men against all comers. From 
25,000 to 30,000 men would make Montreal safe. 
Kingston would require 20,000 men, and Ottawa would 
need 5000. The greater part, if not all of them, might 
be composed of militia, and volunteers trained to gun- 
nery and the use of small arms. For the protection of 
the open country, and to meet the enemy in the field, 
an army of from 25,000 to 35,000 men would be needed 
from Lake Ontario to Quebec. The western district on 
Lake Erie could not be protected by less than 60,000 
men. 

Thus, in case of a great invasion from the United 



240 CANADA. 

States, Canada, with any assistance Great Britain 
could afford her, must have 150,000 men ready for ac- 
tion. What prospect there is of this, may best be learned 
from a consideration, not so much of the resources of 
Canada, as of the williDgness of the people to use 
them. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Rapid Increase of Population — Mineral Wealth — Cereals — Imports and 
Exports — Climate — Agriculture — A Settler's Life — Reciprocity 
Treaty — Report of the Committee of the Executive Council — Mr. 
Gait — Senator Douglas — A Zollverein — Terms of the Convention 
— Free Trade, and what is meant by it — Mr. Gait's opinion on the 
subject — Canadian Imports and Exports. 

The rapid increase of population and settlements in 
Canada, and the growth of cities and towns, are among 
the great marvels of the last and of the present century, 
so rich in wonders of the kind. It is not too much to 
say, that any approximation to a similar rate of increase 
will make British North America a great power in the 
world. The direction of emigration has not been 
favourable. The Germans and the Irish have rather 
sought the United States. The emigrating powers 
of Scotland are rapidly decreasing, and the few English 
who emigrate prefer Australia, New Zealand, even the 
States of the Union, to a country which suffers from 
the early neglect of the home government, the studied 
aspersions and misrepresentations of powerful agencies, 
and the ignorance of the poorer classes who seek to 
improve their condition by going forth in search of 
new homes. 

Mr. Sheridan Hogan, the writer of a prize essay on 

B 



242 CANADA. 

Canada of no ordinary excellence, has devoted some of 
his pages to show that the growth of Canada in popula- 
tion has been overlooked in the scope of the wondering 
gaze which Europe has fixed on the development of the 
United States, although, in fact, the increase of Cana- 
dians in the land has been quite as astonishing as that of 
Americans south of the St. Lawrence. In 1800, he says 
the population of the United States was 5,305,925. 
In 1850 it was 20,250,000. The increase was therefore 
300 per cent, nearly. In 1811 the population of Upper 
Canada was 77,000, and in 1851 it was 952,000, an in- 
crease of over 1100 per cent, in forty years. Within the 
decade up to 1S55 the rate of increase in the United 
States was 13*20 per cent. In Upper Canada it was 
104 per cent, from 1841 to 1851. Upper Canada ex- 
hibited in forty years nearly four times the increase of 
the United States in fifty years. Even the population 
of Lower Canada increased 90 per cent, from 1829 to 
1854. In a table in the same work it appears that the 
Irish in Lower Canada were more than double the 
English and Scotch together, and that they equalled 
both in Upper Canada. The writer says : — 

" The ' World's Progress/ published by Putnam, of 
New York, — a reliable authority, — gives the population 
and increase of the principal cities in the United States. 
Boston, between 1840 and 1850, increased forty-five 
per cent. Toronto, within the same period, increased 
ninety-five per cent. New York, the great emporium 
of the United States, and regarded as the most pros- 
perous city in the world, increased, in the same time, 
sixty-six per cent., about thirty less than Toronto. 

" The cities of St. Louis and Cincinnati, which have 
also experienced extraordinary prosperity, do net com- 



EAPID INCREASE OF POPULATION. 213 

pare with Canada any better. In the thirty years pre- 
ceding 1850, the population of St. Louis increased 
fifteen times. In the thirty-three years preceding the 
same year, Toronto increased eighteen times. And Cin- 
cinnati increased, in the same period given to St. Louis, 
but twelve times. 

u Hamilton, a beautiful Canadian city at the head of 
Lake Ontario, and founded much more recently than 
Toronto, has also had almost unexampled prosperity. 
In 1836 its population was but 2,846, in 1854 it was 
upwards of 20,000. 

" London, still farther west in Upper Canada, and a 
yet more recently-founded city than Hamilton, being 
surveyed as a wilderness little more than twenty-five 
years ago, has now upwards of ten thousand inhabitants. 

" The City of Ottawa, recently called after the magni- 
ficent river of that name, and upon which it is situated, 
has now above 10,000 inhabitants, although in 1830 it 
had but 140 houses, including mere sheds and shanties ; 
and the property upon which it is built was purchased, 
not many years before, for eighty pounds. 

" The Town of Bradford, situated between Hamilton 
and London, and whose site was an absolute wilder- 
ness twenty-five years ago, has now a population of 
6,000, and has increased, in ten years, upwards of three 
hundred per cent.; and this without any other stimulant 
or cause save the business arising from the settlement 
of a fine country adjacent to it. 

" The Towns of Belleville, Cobourg, Woodstock, Gode- 
rich, St. Catherine's, Paris, Stratford, Port Hope, and 
Dundas, in Upper Canada, show similar prosperity, 
some of them having increased in a ratio even greater 
than that of Toronto, and all of them but so many 

r 2 



244 CANADA. 

evidences of the improvement of the country, and the 
growth of business and population around them. 

" That some of the smaller towns in the United States 
have enjoyed equal prosperity I can readily believe, 
from the circumstance of a large population suddenly 
filling up the country contiguous to them. Buffalo and 
Chicago, too, as cities, are magnificent and unparalleled 
examples of the business, the energy, and the progress, 
of the United States. But that Toronto should have 
quietly and unostentatiously increased in population in 
a greater ratio than New York, St. Louis, and Cincin- 
nati, and that the other cities and towns of Upper 
Canada should have kept pace with the Capital, is a fact 
creditable alike to the steady industry and the noiseless 
enterprise of the Canadian people. 

" Although Lower Canada, from the circumstance 
already alluded to of the tide of emigration flowing 
westward, has not advanced so rapidly as her sister Pro- 
vince, yet some of her counties and cities have recently 
made great progress. In the seven years preceding 
1851, the fine County of Megantic, on the south side of 
the St. Lawrence, and through which the Quebec and 
Richmond Railroad passes, increased a hundred and 
sixteen per cent. ; the County of Ottawa, eighty-five ; 
the County of Drummond, seventy-eight; and the 
County of Sherbrooke, fifty. The City of Montreal, 
probably the most substantially-built city in America, 
and certainly one of the most beautiful, has trebled her 
population in thirty-four years. The ancient City of 
Quebec has more than doubled her population in the 
same time, and Sorel, at the mouth of the Richelieu, 
has increased upwards of four times; showing that 
Lower Canada, with all the disadvantages of a feudal 



MINERAL WEALTH — CEREALS. 215 

tenure, and of being generally looked upon as less 
desirable for settlement than the West, has quietly but 
justly put in her claim to a portion of the honour 
awarded to America for her progress/' 

Save and except coal, the want of which is to a con- 
siderable extent compensated by the vast stores of 
forest, of bog and of mineral oils in the Provinces, 
Canada is very rich in many minerals of the first im- 
portance. Iron is deposited in exceeding abundance in 
the Laurentian System — lead, plumbago, phosphate 
of lime, sulphate of barytes, and marbles are found 
in the same wide-spread formation of gneiss and 
limestone. 

The Huron System of slate, &c, contains copper, 
silver, and nickel, jaspers and agates. The Quebec 
group in the East promises to be equally valuable. The 
bases of metallic and ochreous pigments, every 
description of marble and slate, minerals, and substances 
useful in chemistry, in arts, in agriculture, in architec- 
ture, are scattered throughout the land, from Lake Su- 
perior to Gaspe. Notwithstanding the long winter, Upper 
Canada yielded, according to late averages, 21 bushels 
of winter wheat and 18J bushels of spring wheat to the 
acre ; Lower Canada, where agriculture has not received 
the same development, yields a smaller proportion to 
the acre, but the wheat is of excellent quality. In 
Upper Canada the yield of oats is about 30 bushels to 
the acre ; in Lower Canada it is 23 bushels. Barley is 
a little less in Upper, and about the same as oats 
in Lower Canada, and Indian corn is about as much 
as oats. The potato yields from 125 to 176 bushels 
per acre. All these crops, as well as those of 
roots of every description, are increasing rapidly, and it 



216 CANADA. 

is calculated that the value of the farms of Upper 
Cauada is no less than 00,000,000/. sterling, whilst the 
live stock in the same Province was estimated to be 
worth nearly 9,000,000/. In 1860 the value of the 
timber exported was, 1,750,000/., and the forest vielded 
altogether just 2,000,000/. sterling. As there is reason 
to know that in 1851 the value of agricultural exports 
was 6,000,000/., it may be assumed with some degree 
of certainty as a near approximation that Canada sends 
abroad about ten millions' worth of forest and farm 
produce. It is estimated that the imports of the same 
year were worth eighteen millions sterling. 

There are many other illustrations of the rapidity of 
Canadian increase, but the foregoing must suffice for 
the purposes of this volume. It is only surprising 
that the Provinces should have advanced at all, con- 
sidering the misrepresentations which have been cir- 
culated concerning their climate, condition, and pros- 
pects, and the attractions held forth to emigrants by 
the United States. 

The popular idea as to the barrenness and cold of 
Canada would be most effectually dispelled by a glance 
at garden products and cereals in autumn only, or by 
the experience of a winter in New York and a winter 
in London or Hamilton. The author of a pamphlet, 
published by authority of the Bureau of Agriculture, 
observes : — 

"The most erroneous opinions have prevailed abroad 
respecting the climate of Canada. The so-called rigour 
of Canadian winters is often advanced as a serious 
objection to the country by many who have not the 
courage to encounter them, who prefer sleet and fog to 
brilliant skies and bracing cold, and who have yet to 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CLIMATE. 217 

learn the value and extent of the blessings conferred 
upon Canada by her world-renowned ' snows.' 

" It will scarcely be believed by many who shudder 
at the idea of the thermometer falling to zero, that the 
gradual annual diminution in the fall of snow, in cer- 
tain localities, is a subject of lamentation to the farmers 
in Western Canada. Their desire is for the old- 
fashioned winters, with sleighing for four months, and 
spring bursting upon them with marvellous beauty at 
the beginning of April. A bountiful fall of snow, 
with hard frost, is equivalent to the construction of the 
best macadamised roads all over the country. The 
absence of a sufficient quantity of snow in winter for 
sleighing, is a calamity as much to be feared and de- 
plored as the want of rain in spring. Happily neither 
of these deprivations is of frequent occurrence. 

"The climate of Canada is in some measure excep- 
tional, especially that of the Peninsular portion. The 
influence of the great Lakes is very strikingly felt in the 
elevation of winter temperatures and in the reduction of 
summer heats. East and West of Canada, beyond the 
influence of the Lakes, as in the middle of the states of 
New York and Iowa, the greatest extremes prevail, — 
intense cold in winter, intense heat in summer, and to 
these features may be added their usual attendant, 
drought. 

" Perhaps the popular standard of the adaptation of 
climate to the purposes of agriculture is more suitable 
for the present occasion than a reference to monthly 
and annual means of temperature. Much information 
is conveyed in the simple narration of facts bearing 
upon fruit culture. Prom the head of Lake Ontario, 
round by the Niagara frontier, and all along the Cana- 



248 CANADA. 

dian shores of Lake Erie, the grape and peach grow 
with luxuriance, and ripen to perfection in the open 
air, without the slightest artificial aid. The island of 
Montreal is distinguished everywhere for the fine 
quality of its apples, and the island of Orleans, below 
Quebec, is equally celebrated for its plums. Over the 
whole of Canada the melon and tomato acquire large 
dimensions, and ripen fully in the open air, the seeds 
being planted in the soil towards the latter end of 
April, and the fruit gathered in September. Pumpkins 
and squashes attain gigantic dimensions; they have 
exceeded 300 pounds in weight in the neighbourhood of 
Toronto. Indian corn, hops, and tobacco, are common 
crops and yield fair returns. Hemp and flax are indi- 
genous plants, and can be cultivated to any extent in 
many parts of the Province. With a proper expendi- 
ture of capital, England could be made quite indepen- 
dent of Russia, or any other country, for her supply of 
these valuable products. 

"The most striking illustration of the influence of 
the great Lakes in ameliorating the climate of Canada, 
especially of the western peninsula, is to be found in 
the natural limits to which certain trees are restricted 
by climate. That valuable wood, the black walnut, for 
which Canada is so celebrated, ceases to grow north of 
latitude 41° on the Atlantic coast, but under the 
influence of the comparatively mild Lake- climate of 
Peninsular Canada it is found in the greatest profusion, 
and of the largest dimensions, as far north as lati- 
tude 48°." 

This subject is well illustrated by the subjoined 
table, showing the mean temperature and rainfall at 
Toronto from 1840 to 1859 :— 



MEAN TEMPEKATUKE AND RAINFALL. 



249 



a * o 






O ° «*H 

Tp o 

S2£ 









t _ 








as 




ft 













lO 




> 




co 




o 


o 






fc 




CO 








£~ 








<M 













O 




Tjl 










Oh 




OS 




<X> 




*- 




m 




o 








(M 




hO 








d 

<1 


o 


SO 

co 








CO 




>> 




o 










co 


3 




J>- 


tq 


1-3 




co 


H 








o 


o5 

d 


o 


CM 




3 




I— i 




i-s 




co 




b 




oo 






o 






3 




r-l 




_; 




o 

























T—l 




< 




Tji 




-d 




r^ 




o 




o 












c3 




o 




S 




oo 








CO 




JO 




oo 









c4 

<m 








<M 




g 


o 


.t~ 




c3 
1-3 


CO 








^^— 



CSS 

p^ 

Is 

d 

d 
d 

«3 

d 

d 
o 





6 




CO 








o 




« 


i— i 


CO 


o 


j 


at 

o 




£ 


M 


CO 






i>- 




-u 




»o 




O 


d 


»o 




o 


i—i 


<N* 






OS 




Oh 


a 
i— i 


OS 

o 




m 




tH 






J^ 




ta 


a 


CM 




d 


C5 


>> 




O 


W 

H 


d 


a 


CO 


£ 














o 






oo 


a 




^ 


OS 




3 


►h 


•"■* 




1-3 




CO 










t>> 




o 




tf 


d 


CO 




% 


M 


M 


■ 




CM 








as 




d 


"«H 




<j 


~ 


<M 




rd 




CO 




O 




HO 




J-l 


d 






g3 








s 




1-1 






co 




^2 


H 


o 




&H 


M 


1—4 






o 








oo 




i-a 


i— i 


-<* 

7—1 



O OS 
-* l£3 
OO 00 



25 CANADA. 

The Rev. Mr. Hope, who has been indefatigable in 
his efforts to promote the interest of his adopted 
country, quotes the following passage from the Toronto 
Globe of September 21st, 1860, to show that people at 
home are much mistaken in considering Canada a 
region of frost and snow. 

" The display of fruit, in quantity and quality, sur- 
passed what has been shown at any previous Exhibition. 
The results in this department were very satisfactory, 
proving that the climate of Canada admirably adapts it 
for the raising of many of the most valuable kinds of 
fruit. One of the principal exhibitors was Mr. Beadle 
of St. Catharine's nurseries. On one side of the 
central stand in the Crystal Palace, he had 115 plates 
of apples, pears, peaches, &c., and 30 jars of cherries, 
currants, raspberries, blackberries, &c. Mr. Beadle 
exhibited ten varieties of peaches grown in the open 
air. Several of these varieties were of veiy large 
dimensions, and were much admired for the delicate 
richness of their tints. He exhibited also numerous 
varieties of apples; 41 in one collection of three of 
each sort, and 20 in another collection of six of each 
sort. He had also a large show of pears, comprising a 
large number of varieties. Among the varieties of 
open-air grapes shown by Mr. Beadle, were the Blood- 
blacks, the Delaware, the Diana, the Northern Musca- 
dine, the Perkins, Sage's Mammoth, and the Wild 
Vox." 

In 1828, when the whole population of Upper 
Canada amounted to 185,500 inhabitants, the number 
of acres under agricultural improvement was 570,000, 
or about 3-jV for each individual; in 1851 the average 
for each inhabitant was very nearly four acres. The 



PROGRESS OF CULTIVATION. 251 

comparative progress of Upper and Lower Canada, in 
bringing the forest-clad wilderness into cultivation, 
may be inferred from the following table : — 





LOWER CANADA. 


UPPER CANADA. 


Year. 
1831 
1S44 
1851 


No. acres cultivated. 
2,065,913 
2,802,317 
3,605,376 


No. acres cultivated. 

818,432 

2,166,101 

3,695,763 



Hence, in a period of twenty years, Lower Canada in- 
creased her cultivated acres by "75, and Upper Canada 
by 3*5. Before proceeding to describe in detail the 
progress of agriculture in Upper Canada, it will be 
advisable to glance at the efforts made by societies and 
the Government of the Province to elevate the condition 
of husbandry in all its departments, and to induce the 
people at large to join hand in hand in the march of 
improvement. 

The Board of Agriculture for Lower Canada took 
decisive steps during the year 1862 to secure the 
proper disbursements of the provincial grant, and to 
devote liberal awards of public money to the pro- 
motion of agricultural industry in all its important 
branches. The Lower Canadian Provincial Shows 
had previously partaken more of the character of an 
agricultural festival than of a meeting for the pur- 
pose of securing the progress of the Science and Art of 
Agriculture by fair and open competition and peace- 
ful rivalry. In this respect they differed materially 
from the same annual expositions in Upper Canada, 
where astonishing advances in the proper direction 
had been made. The Board determined to establish 
an Agricultural Museum, and to give assistance to 



252 CANADA. 

county societies towards the importation of improved 
breeds of horses, cattle and sheep. The Board is 
willing to advance to any society funds for the purchase 
of stock, retaining one-third of the annual govern- 
ment allowance for three successive years to discharge 
the debt thus incurred. If this new spirit of enter- 
prise should continue, the progress of agriculture in 
Lower Canada will be much accelerated. Although it 
must be acknowledged that in the face of many diffi- 
culties, national prejudices, and peculiarities of character, 
a very marked improvement has taken place in many 
departments of husbandry, and in many parts of the 
Lower Province, much, very much, remains to be 
done. The influence exercised by the Agricultural 
School at St. Anne is already favourably felt, and 
this establishment appears likely to work a beneficial 
change in Lower Canadian husbandry. The details 
of its operations show its great utilitj^. 

The indirect assistance given by the Imperial Govern- 
ment to Agriculture in Upper Canada dates from a 
much earlier period than the encouragement given to 
Agricultural Societies by the Provincial Government ; 
for we find among the donations of George III. to the 
U. E. Loyalists the old English plough. It consisted of 
a small piece of iron fixed to the coulter, having the 
shape of the letter L, the shank of which went through 
the wooden beam, the foot forming the point, which 
was sharpened for use. One handle, and a plank split 
from a curved piece of timber, which did the duty of a 
mold-board, completed the rude implement. At that 
time the traces and leading lines were made of the 
bark of the elm or bass-wood, which was manufactured 
by the early settlers into a strong rope. About the 



AGRICULTURE. 253 

year 1808 the " hog-plough " was imported from the 
United States; and in 1815 a plough with a cast iron 
share and mold-board, all in one piece, was one of the 
first implements, requiring more than an ordinary degree 
of mechanical skill, which was manufactured in the 
province. The seeds of improvement were then sown, 
and while in the address of the President at the 
Frontenac Cattle Show in 1833, we observe atten- 
tion called to the necessity for further improvement in 
the ploughs common throughout the country, we witness, 
in 1855, splendid fruit at the Paris Exhibition. In a 
notice of the trial of ploughs at Trappes, the Journal 
cV Agriculture Pratique makes the following reference 
to a Canadian plough : " The ploughing tests were brought 
to a close by a trial of two ploughs equally remarkable — 
to wit, the plough of Ransome and Sims, of Suffolk, 
England, and that of Bingham, of Norwich, Upper 
Canada. The first is of wood and iron, like all the 
English ploughs, and the results which it produced 
seemed most satisfactory, but it appeared to require a 
little more draught than the Howard plough. Bingham's 
plough very much resembles the English plough ; it is 
very fine and light in its build ; the handles are longer 
than ordinary, which makes the plough much more easy 
to manage. The opinion of the French labourers and 
workmen who were there, appeared, on the whole, very 
favourable to this plough." 

The following extracts from Mr. Hogan's book are 
as truthful as they are eloquent : — 

€( Great as has been the prosperity of America, and 
of the settlements which mark the magnificent country 
just described, yet nature has not been wooed in them 
without trials, nor have her treasures been won without 



254 CANADA. 

a struggle worthy of their worth. Those who have 
been in the habit of passing early clearings in Upper 
Canada must have been struck with the cheerless and 
lonely, even desolate appearance of the first settler's little 
log hut. In the midst of a dense forest, and with a 
* patch of clearing ' scarcely large enough to let the 
sun shine in upon him, he looks not unlike a person 
struggling for existence on a single plank in the middle 
of an ocean. For weeks, often for months, he sees not 
the face of a stranger. The same still, and wild, and 
boundless forest every morning rises up to his view ; 
and his only hope against its shutting him in for life 
rests in the axe upon his shoulder. A few blades of 
corn, peeping up betwen stumps whose very roots 
interlace, they are so close together, are his sole safe- 
guards against want; whilst the few potato plants, in 
little far-between ( hills,' and which struggle for exist- 
ence against the briar bush and luxuriant underwood, 
are to form the seeds of his future plenty. Tall pine 
trees, girdled and blackened by the fires, stand out as 
grim monuments of the prevailing loneliness, whilst the 
forest itself, like an immense wall round a fortress, 
seems to say to the settler, — 'how can poverty ever 
expect to escape from such a prison house/ 

" That little clearing — for I describe a reality — which 
to others might afford such slender guarantee for bare 
subsistence, was nevertheless a source of bright and 
cheering dreams to that lonely settler. He looked 
at it, and instead of thinking of its littleness, it was 
the foundation of great hopes of a large farm and rich 
cornfields to him. And this very dream, or poetry, or 
what you will, cheered him at his lonely toil, and 
made him contented with his rude fire-side. The 



A SETTLERS LIFE. 2; 



j.j 



blades of corn, which you might regard as convey- 
ing but a tantalising idea of human comforts, were 
associated by him with large stacks and full granaries ; 
and the very thought nerved his arm, and made him 
happy. 

" Seven years afterwards I passed that same settler's 
cottage— it was in the valley of the Grand River in 
Upper Canada, not far from the present village of 
Caledonia. The little log hut was used as a back 
kitchen to a neat two story frame house, painted white. 
A large barn stood near by, with stock of every descrip- 
tion in its yard. The stumps, round which the blades 
of corn, when I last saw the place, had so much diffi- 
culty in springing up, had nearly all disappeared. 
Luxuriant Indian corn had sole possession of the place # 
where the potatoes had so hard a struggle against the 
briar bushes and the underwood. The forest — dense, 
impenetrable though it seemed — had been pushed far 
back by the energetic arm of man. A garden, bright 
with flowers, and enclosed in a neat picket fence, 
fronted the house ; a young orchard spread out in rear. 
I met a farmer as I was quitting the scene, returning 
from church with his wife and family. It was on a 
Sunday, and there was nothing in their appearance, 
save perhaps a healthy brown colour in their faces, to 
distinguish them from persons of wealth in cities. The 
waggon they were in, their horses, harness, dresses, 
everything about them, in short, indicated comfort and 
easy circumstances. I enquired of the man — who was 
the owner of the property I have just been describing? 
' It is mine, sir/ he replied ; ' I settled on it nine years 
ago, and have, thank God, had tolerable success/ 

u There is, perhaps, no class in the world who live 



256 CANADA. 

better — I mean who have a greater abundance of the 
comforts of life — than men having cleared farms, and 
who know how to make a proper use of them, in Upper 
Canada. The imports of the country show that they 
dress not only well, but in mauy things expensively. 
You go into a church or meeting-house in any part of 
the province which has been settled for fifteen or 
twenty years, and you are struck at once with the 
fabrics, as well as the style of the dresses worn by both 
sexes, but especially by the young. The same shawls, 
and bonnets, and gowns which you see in cities, are 
worn by the women, whilst the coats of the men are 
undistinguishable from those worn by professional men 
and merchants in towns. A circumstance which I 
witnessed some years ago, in travelling from Simcoe to 
Brantford — two towns in the interior of the province — 
will serve to convey an idea of the taste as well as the 
means of enjoyment of these people. At an ordinary 
Methodist meeting-house, in the centre of a rural 
settlement, and ten miles from a village or town, there 
were twenty-three pleasure carriages, double and single, 
standing in waiting. The occasion was a quarterly 
meeting, and these were the conveyances of the farmers 
who came to attend it. Yet twenty years before, and 
this was a wilderness j twenty years before, and many 
of these people were working as labourers, and were 
not possessed of a pair of oxen ; twenty years before, 
and these things exceeded even their brightest dreams 
of prosperity. 

"The settler who nobly pushes back the giant 
wilderness, and hews out for himself a home upon the 
conquered territory, has necessarily but a bony hand 
and a rough visage to present to advancing civilisation. 



THE CANADIAN SETTLER. 257 

His children, too, are timid, and wild, and. uncouth. 
But a stranger comes in ; buys the little improvement 
on the next lot to him ; has children who are educated, 
and a -wife with refined tastes, — for such people mark, 
in greater or less numbers, every settlement in Upper 
Canada. The necessities of the new comer soon bring 
about an acquaintance with the old pioneer. Their 
families meet — timid and awkward enough at first, 
perhaps; but children know not the conventionalities 
of society, and, happily, are governed by their innocence 
in their friendships. So they play together, go to 
school in company; and thus, imperceptibly to them- 
selves, are the tastes and manners of the educated im- 
parted to the rude, and the energy and fortitude of the 
latter are infused kito their more effeminate com- 
panions. Manly but ill-tutored success is thus taught 
how to enjoy its gains, whilst respectable poverty is 
instructed how to better its condition. That pride 
occasionally puts itself to inconvenience to prevent 
these pleasant results, my experience of Canada forces 
me to admit; and that the jealousy and vanity of mere 
success sometimes views with unkindness the manner 
and habit of reduced respectability — never perhaps 
more exacting than when it is poorest — I must also 
acknowledge. But that the great law of progress, and 
the influence of free institutions, break down these 
exceptional feelings and prejudices, is patent to every 
close observer of Canadian society. Where the edu- 
cated and refined undergo the changes incident to 
laborious occupations — for the constant use .of the axe 
and the plough alters men's feelings as well as their 
appearances, — and where rude industry is also changed 
by the success which gives it the benefit of education, 



258 CANADA. 

it is impossible for the two classes not to meet. As the 
one goes down — at least in its occupations, — it meets 
the other coming up by reason of its successes, and 
both eventually occupy the same pedestal. I have seen 
this social problem worked out over and over again in 
Upper Canada, and have never known the result 
different. Pride, in America, must e stoop to con- 
quer ;' rude industry rises always. 

" The manner of living of the Upper Canadian farmer 
may be summed up in few words. He has plenty, and 
he enjoys it. The native Canadians almost universally, 
and a large proportion of the old country people, sit at 
the same table with their servants or labourers. They 
eat meat twice, and many of them thrice a day : it 
being apparently more a matter of taste than of 
economy as to the number of times. Pork is what 
they chie% consume. There being a great abundance 
of fruit, scarcely a cleared farm is without an orchard ; 
and it is to be found preserved in various ways on every 
farmer's table. Milk is in great abundance, even in 
the early settler's houses, for where there is little 
pasture there are sure to be large woods, and f brouse/ 
or the tops of the branches of trees, supply the place of 
hay. The sweetest bread I have eaten in America I 
have eaten in the farmers' houses of Upper Canada. 
They usually grind the ' shorts ' with the flour for 
home consumption, and as their wheat is among the 
finest in the world, the bread is at once wholesome and 
exceedingly delicious. Were I asked what is the 
characteristic of Canadian farmers, I would unhesi- 
tatingly answer ' Plenty ! 'J 3 



CHAPTER XV. 

Reciprocal Rights — American Ideas of Reciprocity — The Ad Valorem 
System — Commercial Improvements — Trade with America— The 
Ottawa Route — The Saskatchewan — Fertility of the Country — 
Water Communication — The Maritime Provinces — Area and 
Population. 

The absence of a winter port is an evil to Canada, 
for which no energy and no advantages can compensate. 
Although Halifax has a magnificent harbour, New 
Brunswick and Nova Scotia offer but small facilities 
for winter navigation ; and the day seems distant when 
the great railroad of which so much has been spoken 
and written shall open the communication between 
Ed gland and the remotest portions of the vast empire 
which reaches from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

The position of Canada threw her into close relations 
with the United States, aud the result of her geogra- 
phical condition was the Reciprocity Treaty, which has 
caused so much discussion and discontent on both 
sides of the St. Lawrence, aud which the Government 
of the Federal States has now given notice to terminate. 

In March, 1862, the report of the Committee of the 
Executive Council, to which an able paper of Mr. Gait, 
then Finance Minister, had been referred, advised 
that the views and suggestions therein expressed by 
Mr. Gait should be adopted, and that report was 
approved by Lord Monck. Mr. Gait's Report was 
founded on a refereuce made to him of the report of 

s 2 



2G0 CANADA. 

the Committee on Commerce of the House of Repre- 
sentatives at Washington respecting the Reciprocity- 
Treaty, and of a memorial from the Chamber of Com- 
merce of Minnesota. 

The House of Representatives reported in favour of 
a system resembling that of the " Zollverein" as the 
only means of securing the benefits of reciprocal trade, 
and recommended as desirable a uniform system of 
lighthouses, copyrights, postage, patents, telegraphs, 
weights and measures, and coinage. 

This was a favourite scheme of the late Senator 
Douglas; and if the American Government had ex- 
hibited any desire to diminish the rigours of Morrill 
Tariffs and of State protective enactments, we might 
applaud the liberality of their views and the noble 
candour of their conclusions. They believed that "free 
commercial intercourse between the United States and 
the British North- American Provinces, developing the 
natural, geographical, and other advantages of each for 
the good of all, is conducive to the present interests of 
each, and is the proper basis of our intercourse for all 
time to come " — sentiments certainly noble, if somewhat 
vaguely expressed. We will see presently how Mr. 
Gait deals with the practical rendering of them by 
the Federal Government. The Reciprocity Treaty, ne- 
gotiated between Lord Elgin and Mr. Marcey in 
June, 1854, was entered into to avoid further mis- 
understanding in regard to the extent of the right of 
fishing on the coasts of British North America, and to 
regulate the commerce and navigation between the 
respective territories and people in such a manner as 
to render the same reciprocally beneficial and satis- 
factory. 



RECIPROCAL RIGHTS. 2G1 

The Convention secured to American fishermen the 
liberty of taking, curing, and drying fish on the British 
North- American coast generally ; the Treaty extended 
to them the liberty to take fish of every kind (except shell- 
fish) along the coast of Canada, New Brunswick, Prince 
Edward's Island, &c, with permission to land, to dry 
nets, and cure fish, without any restrictions as to dis- 
tance from shore — reserving only the right of private 
property and the salmon and shad-fishings in the 
rivers ; and the same rights were conceded to British 
subjects on the eastern sea-coasts of the United States 
north of the 36th parallel of latitude. It provided that 
the following articles should be admitted duty-free 
reciprocally : — Grain, flour and breadstuff's, animals, 
fresh and salt meat, cotton seed and vegetables, fruit, 
fish, poultry, hides and skins, butter, cheese, tallow, 
lard, horns, manure, ores, coal, stone, slate, pitch, tur- 
pentine, timber and lumber, plants, firs, gypsum, grind- 
stones, dye-stuffs, flax, rags, and unmanufactured 
tobacco. It gave to Americans the right to navigate 
the St. Lawrence and the Canadian canals, subject to 
the tolls, and it gave to British subjects the right to 
navigate Lake Michigan ; but it reserved to the British 
Government the right of suspending, on due notice, 
the privileges of Canadian navigation, in which event 
the right of British subjects to navigate Lake Michigan 
should also cease and determine, and the United 
States should have the right of suspending the free 
import and export of the articles specified. But here, 
it will be observed, there was a one-sided reciprocity. 
The Americans received, absolutely, the right of using 
all the canals in Canada from the British Government; 
the Government of the United States conferred no 



262 CANADA. 

such privilege reciprocally on British subjects. All 
they did — perhaps all they could do in consonance 
with the doctrine of States Rights they are so busily 
engaged at present in destroying — was to engage to 
urge on the State Governments to secure to the sub- 
jects of Her Britannic Majesty the use of the several 
ship-canals on terms of equality with the inhabitants of 
the United States. It was also provided that "Ame- 
rican lumber floated down to St. John and shipped to 
the United States from New Brunswick should be free 
of duty." This treaty was to remain in force for ten 
years from the date at which it came into operation, 
and further until the expiration of twelve months after 
either of the contracting parties gave notice to the 
other of its wish to terminate the same — each of them 
being at liberty to give notice at the end of the ten 
years, or at any time afterwards. This treaty expired 
on the 11th September, 1864, since which time the 
United States and Great Britain have been free to give 
notice of the termination of its provisions, to take 
effect in twelve months after the date of the notice. 
Of this power, as already stated, the United States 
Government has availed itself. An exception to the 
operation of the treaty is made in the case of New- 
foundland, in respect to which its provisions hold good 
till December 12th, 1865. The State of New York, by 
its Legislature, urged Congress to protect the United 
States from what they denounced as an "unequal 
and unjust system of commerce." They asserted 
that nearly all the articles which Canada has to sell 
are admitted into the United States free of duty, 
whilst heavy duties are imposed on many articles of 
American manufacture, with the intention of excluding 



AMERICAN IDEAS OF RECIPROCITY. :Z 3 

them from the Canadian market ; and that discrimi- 
nating tolls and duties, in favour of an isolating and 
exclusive policy against American merchants and for- 
warders, to destroy the effect of the treaty and in 
opposition to its spirit, have been adopted by Canada ; 
and on these grounds they demanded a change in the 
system of commerce now existing, to protect the inte- 
rests of the United States in the manner intended bv 
the treaty. 

The Canadian Minister, in reply, observed that the 
treaty made no mention whatever of the matters com- 
plained of, and, in a very lucid argument, charges 
against the Legislature of the United States the very 
same grounds of complaint as the Committee alleged 
against Canada. No accusation of an infraction of 
the treaty is made, and therefore the subjects treated 
of in the Report affect the commercial relations and 
not the good faith of the contracting parties. The 
Committee accuse Canada of violating the spirit and 
intent of the treaty, by an increase of duties on manu- 
factured articles, by a change in the mode of levying 
duties, and by abolishing tolls on the St. Lawrence 
canals and river; but Mr. Gait contends that the 
treaty had nothing to do with manufactures, but was 
expressly limited to the growth and produce of the 
two countries mentioned in the schedule. Those arti- 
cles not enumerated in it are necessarily excluded from 
its operations, and must be made the subject of special 
legislation between the two States before any act of 
either respecting the mode of their admission can be 
made ground of remonstrance. 

As a proof of the narrow spirit in which these fine 
declaimers about " liberty of commerce and reciprocity 



264 CANADA. 

of trading advantages " have dealt with the treaty, it 
may be mentioned that they imposed duties on planks 
in part planed, tongued, or grooved, and on flour 
ground in Canada from American wheat, and on 
lumber made in Canada out of American logs. The 
Canadian Government, however, have maintained, both 
against the Americans and the mother country, their 
right to decide for themselves both as to the mode 
and the extent to which taxation should be imposed. 
Declamations against a policy of Protection come in- 
deed with a bad grace from the United States j and 
Mr. Gait, in suppressed sarcasm and iron}*, shows that 
their doctrine of Free Trade with Canada really means 
an exclusive protection for themselves against the 
manufactures of Great Britain. 

If the gentlemen who composed the elaborate Report, 
bristling all over with generous sentiments and with the 
expression of the most enlightened and liberal doc- 
trines, could blush, they might well perform that 
interesting operation when reading Mr. Gait's reply. 
Canada admits the registration of foreign vessels without 
charge ; the United States do not. Canada has sought 
admission to the great lakes for coasters ; the United 
States refuse. Canada allows American vessels to pass 
free through her canals ; not a Canadian vessel is 
allowed, even on payment of toll, to enter an American 
canal. The promise in the treaty, that the Government 
of Washington would urge on the States the concession 
of a right to navigate their canals on equal terms with 
American subjects, has not been kept; at least, there 
is no trace of any effort having been made to induce 
the State Legislatures to relax their present extreme 
policy, which is in strong contrast with the professions 



THE AD VALOREM SYSTEM. 265 

of their Committee-men. Canada permits foreign 
goods bought in the United States to be imported on 
the payment of duty on the original invoice ; the 
United States will not permit similar purchases to be 
made in Canada. Tea imported from Canada is 
weighted with duty of ten per cent., while the duties 
under the Canadian tariff are very much lower than 
those levied in America. The permission to pass goods 
under bond through the States conferred an obvious 
advantage on American railroads; but, indeed, the 
Committee were fain to admit that the United States 
had not established a fair reciprocity, inasmuch as they 
recommend that reciprocity should be made complete. 
Duties have been imposed in the United States for 
purposes of Protection, and they can scarcely bring 
accusations against Canada until they have established 
a system of duties as low as those of Canada. The ad 
valorem system of Canada, against which the Committee 
protest, is the system of the United States ; for tea and 
sugar there is a discriminating duty in favour of 
American vessels of twenty per cent. Duty is levied in 
Canada solely for purposes of revenue : and though 
this policy, which has led the late Minister and his 
predecessors to reduce tolls and customs-dues to a 
minimum, has alarmed the canal and ship-owners and 
railway-directors of New York, it is viewed with appro- 
bation by the great Western States. 

"It is,*' says Mr. Gait, "a singular charge to make 
of discrimination on our part against them, that we do 
not permit one section of our public works to be used 
for purposes exclusively beneficial to them, when they 
absolutely, and contrary to the engagements of the 
treaty, debar any Canadian vessel from entering their 



266 CANADA. 

waters, if we except Lake Michigan, specially men- 
tioned in the treaty. Surely Canada does enough for 
them when she places them precisely on the same 
footing as she does her own vessels ; and it is a novel 
doctrine that because the whole St. Lawrence is made 
free, therefore an injury is done to the New York route. 
The remedy is simple, and in their own hands : let them 
do as Canada has done — repeal the tolls on their canals, 
and admit Canadian vessels to ply upon them — and then 
the desired state of f fair competition ? will have arisen. 
But the Committee must have formed but a low 
estimate of the intelligence of their own people in the 
West, when they make it a subject of complaint against 
Canada that she has opened the St. Lawrence freely 
to their trade. The undersigned apprehends that the 
inhabitants of those great States will be much more 
likely to demand from their own Government an 
equitable application of their own customs-laws, so as 
to permit them to import direct via the St. Lawrence, 
and to buy in the Canadian market, rather than to join 
with the Committee in requiring a return to a system 
by which the entire West has hitherto been held in 
vassalage to the State of New York." 

Mr. Gait argues that an increase of customs-duties 
does not, necessarily, injuriously affect foreign trade 
within certain limits, and that those limits have not 
been exceeded in Canada. Formerly the cost of British 
goods in Canada was much enhanced, owing to natural 
causes, whilst Canadian producers obtained a mini- 
mum price for their exports. The duty was then 
generally 2 J per cent., but the price was enormous ; 
and the Canadian suffered, pro tanto, in his means to 
purchase them. Suppose the duties, increased five per 



COMMERCIAL IMPROVEMENTS. 267 

cent., were to produce a reduction of ten per cent, on 
other charges, "the benefit," says Mr. Gait, "would 
accrue equally to the British manufacturer and to the 
consumer j the consumer would pay five per cent, more 
to the Government, but ten per cent, less to the mer- 
chant and forwarder." As Mr. Gait considers the 
principle of Canadian finance and customs to be misap- 
prehended in England as well as in the United States, 
it may be as well to give his own words : — 

" The Government has increased the duties for the 
purpose of enabling them to meet the interest on the 
public works necessary to reduce all the various charges 
upon the imports and exports of the country. Light- 
houses have been built, and steamships subsidised, to 
reduce the charges for freight and insurance ; the St. 
Lawrence has been deepened, and the canals con- 
structed, to reduce the cost of inland navigation to a 
minimum; railways have been assisted, to give speed, 
safety, and permanency to trade interrupted by the 
severity of winter. All these improvements have been 
undertaken with the twofold object of diminishing the 
cost to the consumer of what he imports, and of in- 
creasing the net result of the labour of the country 
when finally realised in Great Britain. These great 
improvements could not be effected without large out- 
lays ; and the burthen necessarily had to be put either 
through direct taxation, or by customs-duties on the 
goods imported, or upon the trade by excessive tolls 
corresponding with the rates previously charged. Direct 
taxation was the medium employed, through the local 
municipalities, for the construction of all minor local 
works — roads, court-houses and gaols, education, and 
the vast variety of objects required in a newly-settled 



268 CANADA. 

country ; and this source of taxation has thus been 
used to the full extent which is believed practicable 
without producing serious discontent. No one can, 
for a moment, argue that, in an enlightened age, any 
Government could adopt such a clumsy mode of raising 
money as to maintain excessive rates of tolls ; nor 
would it have attained the object, as American chan- 
nels of trade were created simultaneously, that would 
then have defied competition. The only effect, there- 
fore, of attempting such course would have been to 
give the United States the complete control of our 
markets, and virtually to exclude British goods. The 
only other course was therefore adopted, and the pro- 
ducer has been required to pay, through increased 
customs-duties, for the vastly greater deductions he 
secured through the improvements referred to. What, 
then, has been the result to the British manufacturer ? 
His goods are, it is true, in many cases subjected to 
20 per cent, instead of 2J per cent., but the cost to 
the consumer has been diminished in a very much 
greater degree; and the aggregate of cost, original 
price, duty, freight, and charges are now very much 
less than when the duty was 2^ per cent., and conse- 
quently the legitimate protection to the home-manufac- 
turer is to this extent diminished. Nor is this all : the 
interest of the British manufacturer is not merely that 
he shall be able to lay down his goods at the least cost 
to the consumer, but equally is he interested in the 
ability of the consumer to buy. Now, this latter point 
is attained precisely through the same means which have 
cheapened the goods. The produce of Canada is now 
increased in value exactly in proportion to the saving on 
the cost of delivering it in the market of consumption. 



TRADE WITH AMERICA. 269 

u If the aggregate of cost to the consumer remained 
the same now as it was before the era of canals and 
railroads in Canada, what possible difference would it 
make to the British manufacturers whether the excess 
over the cost in Great Britain were paid to the Govern- 
ment or to merchants and forwarders? It would 
certainly not in any way affect the question of the 
protection to home-manufacturers : but when it can 
be clearly shown that by the action of the Govern- 
ment, in raising funds through increased customs- 
duties, the cost to the consumer is now very much 
less, upon what ground can the British manufacturer 
complain that these duties have been restrictive on his 
trade ? 

" The undersigned might truly point to the rapid 
increase in the population and wealth of Canada, 
arising from its policy of improvement, whereby its 
ability of consumption has been so largely increased. 
He might also show that these improvements have, in 
a great degree, also tended to the rapid advance of the 
Western States, and to their increased ability to pur- 
chase British goods. He might point to the fact that 
the grain supplied from the Western States and 
Canada keeps down prices in Great Britain, and there- 
fore enables the British manufacturer to produce still 
cheaper. But he prefers resting his case, as to the 
propriety of imposing increased customs-duties, solely 
on the one point, that through that increase the cost 
of British manufactured goods, including duty, has 
been reduced to the Canadian consumer, and that con- 
sequently the increase has in its results, viewing the 
whole trade, tended to an augmentation of the market 
for British goods." 



270 CANADA. 

In a tabular statement it is shown that the average 
amount of duty levied on imports from the United 
States in 1861 is the same as the average of the pre- 
vious twelve years, that the variations have been very 
slight, and that the rate per cent, was less than half 
what it had been a few years before, whilst American 
trade has been steadily increasing. Under the ope- 
ration of the treaty, the imports from the United States, 
in 1861, were nearly trebled, and the exports from 
Canada to the United States were nearly quadrupled ; 
the whole amount of trade in 1851 being, in round 
numbers, 12,500,000 dollars, which was increased to 
24,000,000 dollars in 1854, and to 35,500,000 dollars in 
1861. These advantages may be still further extended 
without injury to either nation or to the just claims of 
Great Britain to an equality in the Canadian market j 
and Mr. Gait professed himself quite ready for the 
abolition of the coasting laws on inland waters — of 
all discrimination as to nationality in respect of vessels 
— the free import of wooden wares, agricultural imple- 
ments, machinery, and books — the assimilation of the 
patent-laws : but he totally opposes the project of aZoll- 
verein, on the ground that it would be inconsistent 
with the maintenance of connexion with Great Britain, 
inasmuch as Canada would be called upon to tax goods 
of British manufacture, while she admitted those of the 
United States free. 

" Great Britain is," he observes, " the market for 
Canadian produce to a far greater extent than the 
United States." The United States would necessarily 
impose her views on the Zollverein, and " the result 
would be," says Mr. Gait, "a tariff not, as now, 
based on the simple wants of Canada, but upon those 



THE OTTAWA ROUTE. 271 

of a country engaged in a colossal war." It must 
be regretted, notwithstanding Mr. Gait's arguments, 
that the Canadian tariff is so high; but if she be called 
upon to incur a fresh debt for the purposes of defence, 
it is more likely that it will be increased rather than 
diminished. In connection with the relations of Canada 
and the West to the United States, the opening of new 
water-ways and roads becomes of paramount interest 
and importance. 

In March, 1863, a Select Committee was appointed 
by the Legislative Assembly to investigate the subject 
of a navigable line between Montreal and Lake Huron, 
by the Ottawa and Matawan Rivers, Lake Nipissing, 
and French River. That Committee reported that 
there were no engineering difficulties to interfere 
with the opening of this route for vessels of every class 
up to the draught of twelve feet, and that it would 
shorten the line to Chicago 350 miles, the exact dif- 
ference in favour of the Ottawa communication from 
Montreal to Mackinaw being 68 miles. In point of 
time there would be a reduction of 47 hours. The 
trade between the Western States and the sea has 
increased to such an extent during the last four years, 
that 120,000,000 of bushels of wheat and grain stood 
in need of transport, according to the last calculation ; 
and even with its present communications, Montreal is 
second only to New York as a grain-exporting port, 
the quantity shipped last year from it being over 
15,000,000 of bushels. The Ottawa route would ac- 
tually be the shortest line of communication between 
the ports on Lake Michigan and New York itself by 
150 miles, when the Champlain Canal shall have been 
made, and the Northern Canal enlarged. 



272 CANADA. 

The tract through which the proposed Hue would 
pass, exceeding in area the whole of the five New 
England States, is covered with a wealth of timber sur- 
passing belief; and the forestless prairies would furnish 
a market valuable as gold itself to the lumberer. 
Vessels going down and discharging their cargoes 
would return with cargoes of timber, the demand for 
which in the West is so great, that the city of Chicago 
consumes alone 100,000/. worth in the year. Canadian 
pines would be in demand to construct the new cities 
which are rising in the Prairie State, and to keep the 
hearth fires alight through their rigid winters. The 
effect of such a line in developing local traffic, agricul- 
tural improvement, commercial enterprise, and the spread 
of civilisation, cannot be over-estimated. In reference to 
the military advantages to be derived from its construc- 
tion, the Committee makes but a meagre reference ; but 
it is obvious that by securing such a route, far removed 
from a foreign frontier, between the sea and the western 
lakes, the means of defence and of transport in war 
would be very much strengthened and improved. 

The St. Lawrence canals can be destroyed, as Mr. 
Chamley observes, by the Americans, without their 
being obliged to land a man in Canada; whilst by 
the Ottawa route gunboats could proceed from the St. 
Lawrence to Lake Huron in less time than they would 
now require to get to Lake Erie. It is not to be over- 
looked, however, that the higher latitudes through 
which the canal would run, expose the waters to a 
longer frost and necessary cessation of traffic. The 
advantages of the route to New York and to other 
North-Eastern States of America, can only be gained by 
completing the proposed Cooknawoogo Canal, between 



THE SASKATCHEWAN. 273 

the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, and it is doubtful 
whether the jealousy of the Americans would not pre- 
vent their furthering a project which would confer 
great benefits on the Provinces, even though their 
refusing to do so might deprive them of certain advan- 
tages. This line would, in fact, give us or the Cana- 
dians an admirable interior communication, and at the 
same time confer military, political, and commercial 
benefits on the Provinces, the extent of which cannot 
be easily foreseen. 

Mr. Gait admits that there may be jealousies, though 
he protests there should not be, and calls to mind the 
opposition of Mohawk Dutchmen, the Frenchmen of 
Detroit, and others, to the Erie Canal. If the plans 
for improving the communications which have been 
suggested should ever be developed, the valley of Red 
River would be reached without much difficulty, and 
land as good as that in the unsettled portions of 
Iowa and Minnesota would be opened to the British 
emigrant. 

In the valleys of the Saskatchewan and Assiniboine, 
Canada possesses avast north-west of her own, enjoying 
a mild climate, which contains, according to one of the 
witnesses whose opinion is cited by the Committee, 
500,000 square miles of fertile land, capable of sustain- 
ing a population of nearly 30,000,000 of people. 

It has been ascertained beyond doubt, that the tract 
between the North and South Saskatchewan on the east 
is exceedingly fertile, and that no intense cold prevails 
throughout an enormous region of rich prairies on cre- 
taceous and tertiary deposits. It is scarcely possible 
for us to conceive what an enormous expanse of fertile 
land lies to the east of the Rocky Mountains, about 



274 CANADA. 

the sources of those rivers ; but there are too many- 
witnesses of unmistakeable veracity to render us scep- 
tical concerning the beauty and capabilities of these 
regions. Could the poor emigrant be carried to these 
fertile districts, instead of sinking into the rowdyism of 
American cities, or beating down the rate of wages by 
competition, he would find at least a comfortable sub- 
sistence, even if he were unable at once to obtain • 
profitable market for his labours. 

Father de Smet, the missionary, a man whose name 
is a tower of strength and faith, describes a district 
which makes us wonder that poverty should ever be 
known in Europe, and corroborates the glowing picture 
of Sir George Simpson: — a soil and climate better suited 
for agriculture than that of Toronto — a region abound- 
ing in game of all kinds, rivers and lakes swarming 
with fish, plains covered with buffaloes — seams of coal 
— delicious wild fruits — forests of pine, cypress, poplar, 
and aspen. Even at Edmonton, potatoes, wheat and 
barley, corn and beans, are produced in abundance. 
" Are these vast and innumerable fields of hay," asks 
Father de Smet, " for ever destined to be consumed by 
fire, or perish in wintry snows ? How long shall these 
superb forests be the haunts of wild beasts ? Are these 
abundant mines of coal, lead, sulphur, iron, copper, and 
saltpetre doomed to remain for ever valueless ? No ; 
the day must come when the hand of labour shall give 
them value, and stirring and enterprising people are 
destined ere long to fill this void ; the wild beasts will 
give place to domestic animals ; flocks and herds will 
graze on the beautiful meadows, and the mountain- 
sides and valleys will swarm with life." 

Before this picture, however, be realised, some com- 



FERTILITY OF THE COUNTRY. 275 

munication must be opened east or west between the 
community and the outer world; and if the British 
Government does not take some steps to secure a 
settlement of these regions by its own subjects, the 
irresistible agency of American emigration will erase 
mere lines upon the map, and determine the question 
of nationality beyond the power of appeal or alteration. 
It is agreeable to admit that the inhabitants of the 
State of Minnesota have not hitherto evinced any 
design of raising difficulties as to jurisdiction, or of dis- 
turbing the relations between the two Governments. 
In fact, the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, in 1862, 
presented a strong memorial against the proposal to 
suspend or abrogate the provisions of the Reciprocity 
Treaty. This memorial says : — 

" Central British America, including an inhabitable 
area of 300,000 square miles, and extending north-west 
of Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains, will probably 
be organised as a crown colony of England, with the 
seat of government at Selkirk. There is good reason 
to believe that a bill for this purpose will become an 
Act of Parliament at the session now impending. 
British Columbia, on the Pacific coast, having received 
a similar organisation in 1858, the establishment of the 
province of Central British America will go far to realise 
the hope so gracefully expressed three years since from 
the throne of England: 'That her Majesty's domi- 
nions in North America may ultimately be peopled in 
an unbroken chain from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by 
a loyal and industrious population of subjects of the 
British crown/ 

"Minnesota, with the co-operation of the Government 
at Washington, has relied with confidence upon the 



276 CANADA. 

probability of such a colonisation of the fertile valleys 
which stretch beyond the international boundary, from 
the lakes of Superior and Winnepeg, or the western 
limits of Canada, to the Pacific colony of British 
Columbia. Our mails, our trains of regular transporta- 
tion, and our steam-vessels on the Red River of the 
North, are already provided as important links of inter- 
national communication from Toronto to St. Paul, and 
thence to Fort Garry. The projected railroads of Min- 
nesota, with extensive grants of land from Congress in 
behalf of their construction, harmonise in a north- 
western trend to the valleys of the Red River of the 
North, and the still more remote Saskatchewan. Our 
whole commercial future has been projected in concert 
with the victories of peace, even more renowned than 
war, of which we still hope to witness the achievement 
in north-west America, irrespective of the imaginary 
line of an international frontier. 

" Animated by these expectations, which the march 
of events has hitherto justified, we invoke the f sober 
second thought ' of the country upon the subject of 
our continental policy. With the suppression of the 
Southern rebellion ; with dispassionate discussions by 
all the parties interested; with the happy accord of 
minds like Cobden in England and Chase in America 
upon the best methods of revenue ; and lastly, with the 
lessons and suggestions of the next three years, a treaty, 
eminently deserving the designation of a reciprocity 
treaty, will probably be submitted to the Congress of 
1864." 

When the Committee of Commerce, to which the 
Legislature of New York referred its petition against the 
Reciprocity Treaty, made their report, they gave ex- 



WATER COMMUNICATION. 277 

pression to very different sentiments; and enlarged 
on the magnitude of the present possessions of the 
British Crown on the American continent, and the pro- 
bable grandeur of their future, in a manner which indi- 
cated certainly the existence of a feeling not far re- 
moved from jealousy. With great truth they say, that 
the value of the British North- American possessions is 
seldom appreciated : stretching from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, they contain an area of at least 3,478,380 miles. 
The isothermal line of 60 degrees for summer rises on 
the interior plains of this continent as high as the 
61st parallel, — its average position in Europe. And a 
favourable comparison may also be traced for winter 
and other seasons in the year. Then, elevated by the 
subject, and warming by degrees, the Committee draw 
a glowing picture of this enormous empire. " Spring 
opens simultaneously," they say, " on the plains, which 
stretch for 1200 miles, from St. Paul's to the McKenzie 
River. Westward are countries of still milder climate, 
now scarcely inhabited, but of incalculable value in the 
future. Eastward are the small settlements, yet distant 
from the other abodes of civilisation, enjoying the rich 
lands and pleasant climate of the Bed River." It may 
well surprise the inhabitants of these isles, who have 
not got 100 miles of natural navigable rivers in the 
three kingdoms, to learn that this same Red River is 
capable of steamboat navigation for 400 miles. 

The following extract from this Report gives perhaps 
the best idea of the British Possessions in a few words 
which can be presented to the reader : 

" It is asserted by those who add personal knowledge 
of the subject to scientific investigation, that the 
habitable but undeveloped area of the British Posses- 



278 CANADA. 

sions westerly from Lake Superior and Hudson's Bay, 
comprises sufficient territory to make twenty-five States 
equal in size to Illinois. Bold as this assertion is, it 
meets with confirmation in the isothermal charts of 
Blodgett, the testimony of Richardson, Simpson, Mac- 
kenzie, the maps published by the Government of 
Canada, and the recent explorations of Professor Hind, 
of Toronto. 

" North of a line drawn from the northern limit of 
Lake Superior to the coast at the southern limit of 
Labrador exists a vast region, possessing in its best 
parts a climate barely endurable, and reaching into the 
Arctic regions. This country, even more cold, desolate, 
and barren on the Atlantic coast than in the interior 
latitudes, becoming first known to travellers, has 
given character in public estimation to the whole 
north. 

"Another line, drawn from the northern limit of 
Minnesota to that of Maine, includes nearly all the 
inhabited portion of Canada, a province extending 
opposite the Territory of Dakota and States of Minne- 
sota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New 
York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, pos- 
sessing a climate identical with that of our Northern 
States. 

" The ' Maritime Provinces * on the Atlantic coast 
include New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's 
Island, and Newfoundland. Geographically they may 
be regarded as a north-easterly prolongation of the 
New England system. Unitedly they include an area 
of at least 86,000 square miles, and are capable of sup- 
porting a larger population than that at present existing 
in the United States or Great Britain. They are equal 



THE MARITIME PROVINCES. 2 7 'J 

in extent to the united territory of Holland, Greece, 
Belgium, Portugal, and Switzerland. 

"New Brunswick is 190 miles in length and 150 in 
breadth. Its interests are inseparably connected with 
those of the adjacent State of Maine. It has an area 
of 22,000,000 acres, and a seacoast 400 miles in extent, 
and abounding in harbours. Its population some years 
ago numbered 210,000, whose chief occupations are 
connected with shipbuilding, the fisheries, and the 
timber trade. Commissioners appointed by the Govern- 
ment of Great Britain affirm that it is impossible to 
speak too highly of its climate, soil, and capabilities. 
Few countries are so well wooded and watered. On its 
unreclaimed surface is an abundant stock of the finest 
timber; beneath are coal fields. The rivers, lakes, and 
seacoast abound with fish. 

" Nova Scotia, a long peninsula, united to the 
American continent by an isthmus only fifteen miles 
wide, is 280 miles in length. The numerous indenta- 
tions on its coast form harbours unsurpassed in any 
part of the world. Including Cape Breton, it has an 
area of 12,000,000 acres. Wheat, and the usual cereals 
and fruits of the Northern States, flourish in many 
parts of it. Its population in 1851 was declared by 
the census to be 276,117. Besides possessing pro- 
ductive fisheries and agricultural resources, it is rich in 
mineral wealth, having beneath its surface coal, iron, 
manganese, gypsum, and gold. 

" The province of Prince Edward's Island is separated 
from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia by straits only 
nine miles in width. It is crescent-shaped, 130 miles 
in length, and at its broadest part is 34 miles wide. It 
is a level region, of a more moderate temperature than 



280 CANADA. 

that of Lower Canada, and well adapted to agricultural 
purposes. Its population in 1848 was 02,678. 

"The island of Newfoundland has a seacoast 1000 
miles in extent. It has an area of 23,040,000 acres, of 
which only a small portion is cultivated. Its spring is 
late, its summer short, but the frost of winter is less 
severe than in many parts of our own Northern States 
and Territories. It is only 1665 miles distant from 
Ireland. It possesses a large trade with various 
countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, the West 
Indies, and the Brazils. 

"The chief wealth of Newfoundland and of the 
Labrador coast is to be found in their extensive and 
inexhaustible fisheries, in which the other Provinces 
also partake. The future products of these, when pro- 
perly developed by human ingenuity and industry, defy 
human calculation. The Gulf Stream is met near the 
shores of Newfoundland by a current from the Polar 
basin, vast deposits are formed by the meeting of the 
opposing waters, the great submarine islands, known 
as 'The Banks,' are formed; and the rich pastures 
created in Ireland by the warm and humid influences 
of the Gulf Stream are compensated by the ' rich sea- 
pastures of Newfoundland/ The fishes of warm or 
tropical waters, inferior in quality and scarcely capable 
of preservation, cannot form an article of commerce 
like those produced in inexhaustible quantities in these 
cold and shallow seas. The abundance of these marine 
resources is unequalled in any portion of the globe. 

"Canada, rather a nation than a province in any 
common acceptation of the term, includes not less than 
346,863 square miles of territory, independently of its 
North-western Possessions not yet open for settlement. 



ABBA AXD POPULATION. 281 

It is three times as large as Great Britain and Ireland, 
and more than three times as large as Prussia. It 
intervenes between the Great North-west and the 
Maritime Provinces, and consists chiefly of a vast terri- 
torial projection into the territory of the United States, 
although it possesses a coast of nearly 1000 miles on 
the river and gulf of the St. Lawrence, where fisheries 
of cod, herring, mackerel, and salmon are carried on 
successfully. Valuable fisheries exist also in its lakes. 
It is rich in metallic ore and in the resources of its 
forests. Large portions of its territory are peculiarly 
favourable to the growth of wheat, barley, and the 
other cereals of the north. During the life of the 
present generation, or the last quarter of a century, its 
population has increased more than fourfold, or from 
582,000 to 2,500,000. 

" The population of all the provinces may be fairly 
estimated as numbering 3,500,000. Many of the in- 
habitants are of French extraction, and a few German 
settlements exist ; but two-thirds of the people of the 
provinces owe their origin either to the United States 
or to the British Islands, whose language we speak, and 
who c people the world with men industrious and 
free/ 

" The climate and soil of these Provinces and Pos- 
sessions, seemingly less indulgent than those of tropical 
regions, are precisely those by which the skill, energy, 
and virtues of the human race are best developed. 
Nature there demands thought and labour from man 
as conditions of his existence, but yields abundant 
rewards to wise industry. Those causes which, in our 
age of the world, determine the wealth of nations are 
those which render man most active ; and it cannot be 



282 CANADA. 

too often or too closely remembered in discussing sub- 
jects so vast as these, where the human mind may be 
misled if it attempts to comprehend them in their 
boundless variety of detail, that sure and safe guides in 
the application of political economy, and to our own 
prosperity, are to be found in the simple principles of 
morality and justice, because they alone are true alike 
in minute and great affairs, at all times and in every 
place." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The " Ashburton Capitulation" — Boundaries of Quebec — Arbitration in 
1831 — Lord Ashburton's Mission — The Questions in Dispute — 
"The Sea" v. "The Atlantic" — American Diplomatists — Franklin's 
Red Line — Compromise — The Maps — Maine — Damage to Canada 
— Mr. "Webster's Defence — His Opinion of the Road — Value of the 
Heights — Our Share of Equivalents — Value of Rouse's Point — 
Vermont — New Hampshire. 

It was by the celebrated Treaty of Washington, 
August 9th, 1842, that the boundary line between the 
British possessions in Canada and the State of Maine 
in the territories of the United States, was settled and 
determined. That treaty has been sometimes spoken 
of as the " Ashburton Capitulation." The story of the 
two maps which played so distinguished a part in the 
negotiations, is tolerably well known, and has formed a 
subject of many discussions which have now settled 
down into fixed convictions. By many, if not by most 
Americans, acquainted with the subject, it is believed 
that Mr. Webster did a very smart thing. Englishmen, 
similarly instructed, believe their country to have 
been cheated by the great American elocutionist. 
Canadians are of opinion that they have suffered an 
irreparable injury at the hands of, or through the 
weakness of, those appointed to guard their interests 
by the Imperial Government. The Treaty of Paris, in 
1783, did not define the north-eastern boundary of the 
United States ; it merely declared that the boundary was 



2S4 CANADA. 

drawn along the highlands which divide the rivers that 
empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those 
which fall into the Atlantic Ocean. If we had had at 
that time the knowledge of geography and geology, 
with respect to the basin of the St. Lawrence, which, 
thanks to the labours of the United States' engineers 
and of Sir William Logan, we now possess, there would 
not have been much difficulty in fixing on the real line, 
as there could not well be any dispute respecting the 
exact line of highlands from which the rivers flowing 
into the St. Lawrence came, and from the other side 
of which the water-shed was towards the Atlantic 
Ocean. Tons of pamphlets, years of controversy, and 
thousands of pounds might have been spared, not to 
speak of much national animosity. 

It may be remarked here, that the difficulty of recon- 
ciling States' rights with Imperial Federal policy was 
fore- shadowed in the original disputes which took place 
at the time of the treaty adjustment. The Treaty 
speaks of the " boundaries between the possessions of 
Her Britannic Majesty in North America and the terri- 
tories of the United States ;" but the State of Maine 
in its vehement protest against the line of the King of 
the Netherlands, assumed the language and the port 
of an independent Power. Mr. Thomas Colley Grattan, 
in his work, tf Civilised America,' 5 has collected an 
immense amount of information, and has drawn up an 
argument on the subject, which prove beyond a doubt, 
even without collateral aid, that the line yielded by 
Lord Ashburton was not that which was meant by the 
framers of the Treaty of 1783. Let us consider how 
the case stood. 

In 1763 the French possessions in North America 



THE BOUNDARIES OF QUEBEC. 285 

were ceded to Great Britain, and in the October of 
that year a royal proclamation defined the boundaries 
of the government of Quebec, "bounded on the 
Labrador coast by the river St. John, which falls into 
the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and from there by a 
line drawn from the head of that river through the 
Lake of St. John to the south end of the Lake Nip- 
issing, from whence the said line, crossing the river 
St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain in 45 degrees of 
north latitude, passes along the highlands which divide 
the rivers that empty themselves into the said river St. 
Lawrence from those which fall into the sea, and also 
along the north coast of the Bay of Chaleurs and the 
coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Rosiere, 
and from thence crossing the mouth of the river St. 
Lawrence by the west end of the island of Anticosti, 
terminates in the aforesaid Lake of St. John." It is 
fortunate enough that we have no neighbours to raise 
any question about " the line drawn through the 
Lake of St. John to the south end of the Lake Nip- 
issing." 

Previous to the Treaty of Independence only one 
Act was passed bearing upon the southern boundary 
of Canada. The Quebec Act of 1774 draws its 
boundaries between the province of Quebec and the 
colonies of Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, in words 
nearly the same as those of the Proclamation of 
1763. When the State of Massachusetts and the 
State of Maine were acknowledged to be "free, 
sovereign, and independent," by the Treaty of 1783, 
the contracting parties appeared to have defined the 
boundary-line with tolerable exactitude. They wished 
to prevent disputes between the United States and 



286 CANADA. 

the colonies, and therefore the boundaries were con- 
stituted " from the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, — 
viz., that angle which is formed by a line drawn due 
north from the source of the St. Croix river to the 
highlands, along the said highlands which divide those 
rivers that empty themselves into the St. Lawrence 
from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, — to the 
north-westernmost head of Connecticut river east, by 
a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. 
Croix from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, 
and from its source directly north to the aforesaid high- 
lands which divide the rivers which fall into the 
Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river St. 
Lawrence, comprehending all highlands within twenty 
leagues of any harbour of the United States, and lying 
between lines to be drawn due east from the points 
where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia 
on the one part, and East Florida on the other, shall 
respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic 
Ocean, except such highlands as now are, or heretofore 
have been, within the limits of the said province of 
Nova Scotia." 

The north-west angle of Nova Scotia thus be- 
comes a point of consequence — upon the determina- 
tion of it rests the true line. The British maintain 
that the angle is contained at the point " where the 
line due north from the river St. Croix touches the 
highlands at a point about 100 miles south of the point 
claimed by the United States." The Americans argue 
that the north-west angle was " considerably nearer to 
the St. Lawrence, at a spot 145 miles north of the 
source of the St. Croix." In 1794 Commissioners were 
appointed to determine " where a line drawn due north 



ARBITRATION IN 1831. 287 

from the St. Croix would intersect a line of highlands 
corresponding with those mentioned in the Treaty of 
1783." The umpire called in by the Commissioners 
fixed on the most northern point of the river as the 
place from which the line to the highlands was to be 
drawn, and the result was that the line so drawn did 
not strike the highlands which we held to be those 
meant by the treaty, but passing them at a distance of 
twenty miles on the west, came to an isolated moun- 
tain called Mars Hill, from which the Americans 
desired to prolong it northwards beyond the river St. 
John to the highlands above the source of the Reste- 
gouche ; but the British Commissioners insisted that 
the line should not proceed further north, and that the 
highlands which ran west from near that point to the 
head of the Connecticut river should form the next 
boundary-line. 

Events of greater importance for a time prevented 
any attempt to adjust a question, which promised, 
however, no slight difficulty in time to come. Then 
war broke out between the United States and Great 
Britain; but the Peace of 1814 rendered it neces- 
sary to renew the attempt to define the bounda- 
ries of the two States. The Commissioners appointed 
by the Treaty of Ghent were not more fortunate than 
their predecessors ; and it was thirteen years after the 
signing of that treaty before the Governments of the two 
countries arranged a convention, to carry out the provi- 
sion made by an article in the Treaty for the appointment 
of a referee in case of disagreement. The King of the 
Netherlands, who accepted the office of arbiter in 1831, 
delivered his award, which, taking the line drawn north 
from the St. Croix to Mars Hill, passed beyond it to 



2SS CANADA. 

the river St. John, whence it took the course of the river 
westward, inside the line claimed by the United States 
to the head of the Connecticut River. This compro- 
mise was identical with the actual line established by the 
Treaty of 1842, except on the western side, where the 
line fixed by the King and that claimed by the United 
States are the same. The King's line approximates 
much more closely to the United States' line than it 
does to that which we claim : however, the Americans 
refused to accept it, on the grounds that the King had no 
right to go beyond the matter referred to him of deter- 
mining which of the two lines was right, and that he 
had exceeded his province in proposing a line which 
had not been referred to him by either of the parties. 

Eleven years passed in unavailing endeavours to 
adjust a question which rose into the highest rank of 
diplomatic difficulties. Lord Ashburton, the head of 
the commercial house of Baring, whose relations with 
American commerce were supposed to be likely to 
recommend him to American statesmen, was dispatched 
in 1842 to determine the boundary, in concert with 
Mr. Webster. These gentlemen were assisted by seven 
Commissioners from Maine and Massachusetts. The 
author of a pamphlet of very great ability, quoted 
by Mr. Grattan, arrived at the conclusion that the line 
designated in the Proclamation of 1763, is identical 
with that claimed by the United States, and that the 
line indicated in the treaty of 1783 is almost the 
same as that claimed by Great Britain. He argued 
that it was clearly intended to create a new boundary, 
because Mr. Townsend said so, and Lord North re- 
peated the statement in Parliament. He maintained 
that the variations in the wording of the treaty from 



THE QUESTION IN" DISPUTE. 289 

that of the proclamation, were specially introduced 
to show that a new boundary was intended, and that if 
it had not been so, the description in the treaty would 
have been the same as it was in the proclamation ; and 
he then proceeded further to contend, with greater force 
of reasoning, that the proclamation boundary, although 
it might have adequately defined the limits of a province, 
would have been obviously unsuitable as between two 
independent nations, because it would cut off communi- 
cation between two portions of the territory of one of 
the Powers, and give it to another independent State. 
He further asserted, that all negotiations and projects 
for peace on the part of the United States were based 
on the supposition that England would demand a 
new line, and that Congress never contemplated an 
adherence to the Proclamation of 1763. All the 
reasoning of the pamphleteer in support of these pro- 
positions is distinguished by acuteness, and inclines the 
mind to accept them with confidence ; and he is not 
less happy in his argument that the Madawaaka river 
is distinct from the river St. John — that it is a tributary, 
not a branch, of that stream. 

The question as to the range of highlands meant 
by the treaties can only be settled by analytical 
reasoning, which, in relation to matters of fact of the 
kind under dispute, is satisfactory only to those who 
direct their own course of argument. There are two 
ranges of highlands dividing the rivers which flow into 
the St. Lawrence and those which empty themselves 
into the Atlantic ; the first, running from the sources 
of the Connecticut towards the Bay of Chaleurs, cer- 
tainly separates rivers emptying into the St. Lawrence 
from those emptying into the sea; but the second line 



290 CANADA. 

starting from the same mountainous germ at the 
sources of the Connecticut, branching off from the 
first range at a point about eighty miles from its com- 
mencement, takes a southern course towards the head 
of the St. Croix, and divides the rivers which empty 
themselves into the St. Lawrence from those which 
flow into the Atlantic Ocean. It is contended on one 
side, with much force of reasoning and probability, 
that the highlands specified in the Treaty of 1783 are 
those of the southern range. It was necessary of 
course to fix upon some great natural features in a 
district vast in extent and unknown to all but the Red 
men and the hunter. Rivers and the summit level 
between two great watersheds would be obviously 
selected. It was the object of England to secure free 
communication between all parts of her American ter- 
ritory, and, of course, between Canada and Nova 
Scotia. The Americans proposed the line of the St. 
John, which was at once rejected. That being the 
case, it is difficult to conceive how they could go back 
and propose, as a line more likely to meet the views of 
England, the highlands of the northern range close to 
the St. Lawrence, which would throw the greatest diffi- 
culties in the way of the communication which it was 
a vital point for England to secure. It will have been 
observed that the words " the Sea" and the " Atlantic 
Ocean n are used in the treaties, and it certainly is not 
easy to comprehend how the Americans can maintain 
that these terms have an identical meaning, if the 
description of the maps which they had before them 
at the time is correct. The Connecticut, the Penob- 
scot, and the Kennebeck, can be considered as flowing 
into the Atlantic Ocean from one range of highlands 



THE SEA VERSUS THE ATLANTIC. 291 

only, and it is equally plain that the other, or northern, 
range was that which was meant as the highlands from 
which rivers flowed into the " sea." 

It has been urged, ingeniously and truly, that the 
words " The Sea," give a larger range of boundary than 
the words " The Atlantic ; " and that therefore the 
boundary which depended on a reference to the Atlantic, 
was intended to have a smaller extent than that which 
was made to depend upon the Sea. The Atlantic was 
certainly substituted for the Sea, not only in the treaty, 
but in the Commissions of the Governors of Quebec, 
showing an alteration of the boundary of their jurisdic- 
tion, whilst no change was made in the Commissions 
of the Governors of New Brunswick, because the 
boundary of their province depended upon that of 
Quebec. The highlands separating rivers that empty 
into the Atlantic Ocean, are by no means identical with 
the highlands separating the rivers that empty into 
the Sea. The Americans have urged that the northern 
range divides the rivers of the St. Lawrence from the 
Atlantic rivers, but it certainly does not separate the 
Penobscot branches north and east which flow into the 
Atlantic from the southern range ; and the term " The 
rivers," of course means all the rivers, because, other- 
wise, such a considerable stream as the Penobscot would 
have been excepted specially. The southern range 
separated all the rivers which flow into the Atlantic, 
from all the rivers which flow into the St. Lawrence. 

Had the Commissioners drawn the due north line 
from the western branch of the St. Croix, which 
formed the ancient boundary of Nova Scotia, instead of 
from the northern branch, the whole of the complicated 
and vexatious questions might have been evaded, and 

u 2 



292 CANADA. 

the claim urged by the United States might never have 
been heard. It was the doctrine of State rights alone 
which justified the rejection of the Netherlands com- 
promise. The tract in dispute was indeed but seven 
million acres of river, mountain, and forest, but the 
northern boundary of this tract overlooked the course 
of the St. Lawrence, and carried American territory 
within a day's march of its stream, whilst the direct 
roads #nd communications between the Provinces east 
and west, would be placed inside American territory. 
To the Maine lumberers, however, this tract was not 
uninviting, and it became a debateable land, in which 
British colonists from New Brunswick, and American 
squatters, carried on a series of inroads and forcible 
settlements, which were fortunately unattended by 
actual bloodshed. Lord Palmerston, who in 1835 
notified the refusal of the British Government to accept 
the Netherlands compromise, appointed Commissioners 
in 1839 to inquire into the state of the question upon 
the spot, and their report, which was handed to the 
United States Government in 1840, in the most abso- 
lute terms laid it down that the southern range was 
that intended by the treaty of 1783. Mr. Grattan, who 
was by no means unduly disposed to favour American 
pretensions, describes with terse propriety the disputes 
which now arose. " All on our side/' he says, " was 
supercilious pride; on that of the L^nited States, aggres- 
sive coarseness." 

To Sir Robert Peel is due the praise of having taken 
a decided step to settle the north-eastern boundary. 
Lord Ashburton, received with considerable enthusiasm 
in the United States, was at once accepted by President 
Tyler, and for the better adjustment of the difficulty, 



AMERICAN DIPLOMATISTS. 293 

it was arranged that he should be met by Mr. Webster 
in a spirit of perfect candour ; that memoranda and 
despatches were to be dispensed with, and that every 
honest, straightforward exertion should be made on 
both sides to come to a satisfactory settlement of 
the vexed question. Lord Ashburton had, however, 
to encounter not only the Secretary of State, but 
the Commissioners of Maine and Massachusetts, 
among whom were Mr. Abbott Lawrence and Mr. 
Preble. 

Mr. Grattan, who was actually invited to assist at 
the negotiations by the American Commissioners, and 
went to Washington as amicus curice, gives a most 
minute and interesting account of the whole of the 
proceedings, and states positively that Mr. Webster 
sent a confidential agent to the Commissioners, pro- 
posing a line far south of the St. John's River, before 
they had got further than New York, which gave great 
offence to Mr. Preble, by whose influence it was 
rejected. His pertinacity and the pomposity of Law- 
rence, with which we are well acquainted in England, 
were obstacles in the way of a calm discussion of adverse 
claims, but the other Commissioners are described 
as exceedingly forbearing, unassuming, and well- 
behaved. 

At first Lord Ashburton seemed to make way with Mr. 
Webster, and to be on the point of obtaining a more 
favourable line than that proposed by the Netherlands 
compromise, but the British Commissioner had no 
special proof or absolute document to show that the 
highlands south of St. John indicated the boundary 
meant by the treaty of 1783. It was known that Dr. 
Franklin sent from Paris to Washington, at the time of 



294 CANADA. 

making the treaty, a map on which was drawn a red 
ink line to show the boundary to Mr. Jefferson. 

It is strange enough that, in the state of confusion 
caused by conflicting statements and contradictory 
documents, it should not have occurred to Lord 
Ashburton or to Mr. Grattan, who records his own 
anxious searches after Dr. Franklin's map, that a coun- 
terpart might have been readily found in Paris in the 
archives of the Foreign Office; but the fact was, Frank- 
lin's map could nowhere be found in the State Paper 
Department of Washington. 

The production of that map with the red ink line 
must have placed the boundary question beyond the 
reach of controversy ; in fact, the map of De Vergennes 
could have been consulted at Paris, and the same red 
line might have been seen on it as that which was seen 
in Franklin's. Lord Aberdeen had for some inscrutable 
reason resolved that the boundary should be drawn so 
as to include the settlement of Madawaska on the St. 
John, within the British possessions, whilst the Com- 
missioners were equally resolute not to except an inch 
south of the St. John itself; and the arrangement 
proposed by a small European monarch was regarded 
by the Americans as a proof that they were entitled to 
all that they had asked, and that the compromise was 
suggested to propitiate England. 

The expectations which had been entertained of an 
immediate adjustment were followed by a renewal of 
angry feeling and political commotion. Lord Ash- 
burton, after an unequal struggle with Webster and 
the Commissioners, in a controversial correspondence 
on which he had not very wisely entered, yielded 
in a spirit of honourable concession the claim of 



VRASKUK8 RED LINE. :295 

Great Britain to the southern line of highlands. He 
was impressed somewhat, no doubt, by the vehemence 
and force of unanimous public opinion in America 
respecting the justice of their claim, the strong and 
general conviction felt that the country was in the 
right. Extended and accessible on every side, his mind 
could not resist the constant pressure of the audacious 
and penetrating weight of Webster's intellect, and he 
gradually gave way like a crumbling wall to the flood- 
tide of intense determination by which he was assailed. 
The middle of the St. John was accepted as the boun- 
dary, but instead of following the highlands overlooking 
the vallev of the St. Lawrence, a line was determined 

v 3 

upon sixty miles more to the south, which thus removes 
the United States frontier to a tolerable distance from 
the navigation of the river and the military control of 
the banks. 

On both sides of the Atlantic this compromise was 
received with expressions of disgust and anger. The 
Americans, knowing themselves xery well and English- 
men very little, declared that Daniel "Webster had been 
bought. 

In the land of liberty it is the custom of the repre- 
sentatives of the people to conduct their debates in 
secret whenever any question of public interest arises, 
and the Senate ratified the treaty by a large majority, 
after a long debate carried on with closed doors for 
several days. 

Some time after the treaty had been signed, it turned 
out that Mr. Webster had all the time possessed a 
map on which Franklin's red line, tracing the boun- 
dary of 17 S3 south of the St. John, was distinctly 
marked. 



296 CANADA. 

The map in question was an authentic copy of one 
which was given to De Vergeunes by Dr. Franklin him- 
self when the treaty was made. Its existence had been 
made known to the President, to the Senate, and to all 
the Americans engaged in the negotiation. This map 
was no doubt the same as that which had disappeared 
from the State Department. Its existence "was known 
to many people. It appears that Mr. Jared Sparkes, 
of Boston, found in the archives at Paris the following 
letter. 

" Faissey, Beer. 6th, 1782. 
" Sir, — I have the honour of returning herewith the 
map your Excellency sent me yesterday. I have marked 
with a strong red line, according to your desire, the 
limits of the United States as settled in the prelimina- 
ries between the British and American Plenipoten- 
tiaries. 

" With great respect, 

* f I am, kc, 

"B. FraXXLIX." 

This letter was addressed to the Count De Vergeunes, 
the French Minister. Mr. Sparkes, in fact, discovered 
the actual map of Xorth America of 1746, and on it was 
drawn a strong red line throughout the entire boundary 
of the United States, answering exactly to Franklin's 
description. "Imagine," says Mr. Sparkes. "ray sur- 
prise on discovering that this line runs wholly south of 
the St. John's, and between the head waters of that 
river and those of the Penobscot and Kennebec; 
in short, it is exactly the line contended for by Great 
Britain, except that it concedes more than is 
claimed." 



THE MAPS. 297 

When the secret debates of the Senate were pub- 
lished, it was seen that Mr. Rives, the Chairman of 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, had fortified his 
argument against the rejection of this Ashburton line 
by quoting the existence of this map, and warning them 
of the risk and danger of a further search into the 
archives of Europe. In the debate that followed, Mr. 
Benton, eager to overthrow the value of Mr. Sparkes' 
discovery and of Mr. Rives's argument, produced a map 
from the Jefferson collection in the library of Congress, 
which contained a dotted line marking the boundary of 
the Government of Quebec under the proclamation of 
1763, but strange to say, he overlooked the fact which 
was at once visible to every eye, that a strong red line, 
indicating the limits of the United States according to 
the Treaty of Peace, was traced across it, which coin- 
cided minutely and exactly with the boundary on Mr. 
Sparkes' map. 

Those who wish for the most minute details respect- 
ing this map, may be referred to Mr. Grattan's work. 
The map of Baron Steiben, and that of Faden, coincide 
in a most remarkable manner in marking the limits of 
the United States. 

It is worthy of note that Mr. Buchanan, the last 
President of the United States, did his very best to 
maintain the propriety of the deceit. Mr. Calhoun is 
supposed to have appreciated the importance of the 
discoveries, and to have felt the injury to American 
diplomacy which Mr. Webster's suppressions of truth 
might create on future occasions. The Americans 
actually made use of the weakness of the English 
Minister as an argument that they had been cheated 
themselves, and Mr. Webster's ability in concealing 



29S CANADA. 

the truth was considered evidence that he had not 
gone far enough in the same line, and his reputation 
as a skilful and successful negotiator was considered 
not to stand very high. The action of Sir Robert 
Peel, however, prevented any endeavour to obtain the 
legitimate advantages which the discovery of these 
maps ought to have produced. 

The decision arrived at affected the State of Maine 
and the pretensions of its people, but it had little to 
do with the prosperity or military strength of the whole 
of the Union : whilst it weakened Canada in its weak- 
est point, and conferred most signal advantage on the 
only enemy it had to fear : it bit in to the substance of 
the Provinces, and at the same time cut the vein of 
communication with the sea for five long: winter 
months. Strange that a line drawn upon a piece of 
paper by the hand of a man gathered to his fathers for 
so many years, should for a time at least decide so much 
of a nation's happiness and prosperity — for a time only, 
because it must soon be that the increasing power or 
failing resources of the United States, or of Canada, 
will cause a modification of the present frontier, more 
in accordance with the commercial and military exi- 
gencies of the two States. The Canadians feel that 
Imperial diplomacy has done them a great wrong, pos- 
sibly very much as France feels in respect to her Rhenish 
boundary ; but in a military point of view, perhaps the 
cession of Rouse's Point has been the most serious of 
all the circumstances affecting the relations for aggres- 
sive purposes of the United States with the Pro- 
vinces. 

In order that we may appreciate the importance of 
Mr. Webster's achievement, let us quote his own 



mr. Webster's opinion. 299 

description of it in the great debate which took place 
in the Senate on the Washington Treaty. Mr. Webster, 
in noticing some of the many charges made against him 
in reference to the treaty, dealt with the question of 
military concession in the following manner : — 

" Lord Palmerston (if he be the author of certain pub- 
lications ascribed to him) says that all the important 
points were given up by Lord Ashburton to the United 
States. I might here state, too, that Lord Palmerston 
called the whole treaty 'the Ashburton capitulation,'' 
declaring that it yielded everything that was of import- 
ance to Great Britain, and that all its stipulations were 
to the advantage of the United States, and to the 
sacrifice of the interests of England. But it is not on 
such general, and, I may add, such unjust statements, 
nor on any off-hand expressions used in debate, though 
in the roundest terms, that this question must turn. 
He speaks of this military road, but he entirely mis- 
places it. The road which runs from New Brunswick 
to Canada follows the north side of the St. John to the 
mouth of the Madawaska, and then, turning north- 
west, follows that stream to Lake Temiscoata, and 
thence proceeds over a depressed part of the highlands 
till it strikes the St. Lawrence 117 miles below Quebec. 
This is the road which has been always used, and there 
is no other. 

" I admit that it is very convenient for the British 
Government to possess territory through which they 
may enjoy a road ; it is of great value as an avenue of 
communication in time of peace; but as a military 
communication it is of no value at all. What business 
can an army ever have there ? Besides, it is no gorge, 



300 CANADA. 

no pass, no narrow defile, to be defended by a fort. If 
a fort should be built there, an army could, at pleasure, 
make a detour so as to keep out of the reach of its 
guns. It is very useful, I admit, iu time of peace. 
But does not everybody know, military man or not, 
that unless there is a defile, or some narrow place 
through which troops must pass, and which a fortifica- 
tion will command, that a mere open road must, in 
time of war, be in the power of the strongest ? If we 
retained by treaty the territory over which the road is 
to be constructed, and war came, would not the English 
take possession of it if they could? Would they be 
restrained by a regard to the treaty of Washington ? I 
have never yet heard a reason adduced why this com- 
munication should be regarded as of the slightest 
possible advantage in a military point of view. 

" But the circumstance to which I allude is, that, by a 
map published with the speech of the honourable 
member from Missouri, made in the Senate, on the 
question of ratifying the treaty, this well-known and 
long-used road is laid down, probably from the same 
source of error which misled Lord Palmerston, as 
following the St. John, on its south side, to the mouth 
of the St. Francis ; thence along that river to its source, 
and thence, by a single bound, over the highlands to 
the St. Lawrence, near Quebec. This is all imagina- 
tion. It is called the ' Valley Road/ Valley Road, 
indeed ! Why, Sir, it is represented as running over 
the very ridge of the most inaccessible part of the 
highlands ! It is made to cross abrupt and broken 
precipices, 2000 feet high ! It is, at different points of 
its imaginary course, from fifty to a hundred miles 
distant from the real road. 



VALUE OF THE HEIGHTS. 301 

" So much, Mr. President, for the great boon of 
military communication conceded to England. It is 
nothing more nor less than a common road, along 
streams and lakes, and over a country in great part 
rather flat. It then passes the heights to the St. 
Lawrence. If war breaks out, we shall take it if we 
can, and if we need it, of which there is not the 
slightest probability. It will never be protected by 
fortifications, and never can be. It will be just as easy 
to take it from England, in case of war, as it would be 
to keep possession of it, if it were our own. 

" In regard to the defence of the heights, I shall dis- 
pose of that subject in a few words. There is a ridge 
of highlands which does approach the river St. Law- 
rence, although it is not true that it overlooks Quebec ; 
on the contrary, the ridge is at the distance of thirty or 
forty miles. 

" It is very natural that military men in England, or 
indeed in any part of Europe, should have attached 
great importance to these mountains. The great mili- 
tary authority of England, perhaps the highest living 
military authority, had served in India and on the 
European continent, and it was natural enough that 
he should apply European ideas of military defences 
to America. But they are quite inapplicable. High- 
lands such as these are not ordinarily found on the 
great battle-fields of Europe. They are neither Alps 
nor Pyrenees ; they have no passes through them, nor 
roads over them, and never will have. 

" Then there was another cause of misconception on 
this subject in England. In 1839 an ex parte surve} r 
was made, as I have said, by Colonel Mudge and Mr. 
Eeatherstonhaugh, if survey it could be called, of the 



302 CANADA. 

region in the North of Maine, for the use of the British 
Government. I dare say Colonel Mudge is an intelli- 
gent and respectable officer ; how much personal atten- 
tion he gave the subject I do not know. As to Mr. 
Featherstonhaugh, he has been in our service, and his 
authority is not worth a straw. These two persons 
made a report, containing this very singular statement : 
That in the ridge of highlands nearest to the St. Law- 
rence, there was a great hiatus in one particular place, 
a gap of thirty or forty miles, in which the elevation 
did not exceed fifty feet. This is certainly the strangest 
statement that ever was made. Their whole report 
gave but one measurement by the barometer, and that 
measurement stated the height of 1200 feet. A survey 
and map were made the following year by our own 
commissioners, Messrs. Graham and Talcott. of the 
Corps of Topographical Engineers, and Professor 
Kenwick. of Columbia College. On this map, the very 
spot where this gap was said to be situated is dotted 
over thickly with figures, showing heights varying from 
]200 to 2000 feet, and forming one rough and lofty 
ridge, marked by abrupt and almost perpendicular 
precipices. TVhen this map and report of Messrs. 
Mudge and Featherstonhaugh were published, the 
British authorities saw that this alleged gap was laid 
down as an indefensible point, and it was probably on 
that ground alone that they desired a line east of that 
ridge, in order that they might guard against access of 
a hostile power from the United States. But in truth 
there is no such gap ; our engineers proved this, and 
we quite well understood it when agreeing to the 
boundary. Any man of common sense, military or 
not, must therefore now see, that nothing can be more 



OUR SHARE OF EQUIVALENTS. 303 

imaginary or unfounded than the idea that any import- 
ance attaches to the possession of these heights. 

" Sir, there are two old and well-known roads to 
Canada ; one by way of Lake Champlain and the 
Richelieu, to Montreal — this is the route which 
armies have traversed so often, in different periods of 
our history. The other leads from the Kennebec 
river to the sources of the Chaudiere and the Du 
Loup, and so to Quebec — this last was the track of 
Arnold's march. East of this, there is no practicable 
communication for troops between Maine and Canada, 
till we get to the Madawaska. We had before us a 
report from General Wool, while this treaty was under 
negotiation, in which that intelligent officer declares 
that it is perfectly idle to think of fortifying any point 
east of this road. East of Arnold's track it is a 
mountain region, through which no army can possibly 
pass into Canada. With General Wool was associ- 
ated, in this examination, Major Graham, whom I 
have already mentioned. His report to General Wool, 
made in the year 1838, clearly points out the Ken- 
nebec and Chaudiere road as the only practicable 
route for an army between Maine and Quebec. He 
was subsequently employed as a commissioner in the 
ex parte surveys of the United States. Being an 
engineer officer of high character for military know- 
ledge and scientific accuracy, his opinion had the 
weight it ought to have, and which will be readily 
given to it by all who know him. His subsequent and 
still more thorough acquaintance with this mountain 
range, in its whole extent, has only confirmed the 
judgment which he had previously formed. And, Sir, 
this avenue to Canada, this practicable avenue, and 



304 CANADA. 

only practicable avenue east of that by way of Lake 
Charnplain, is left now just as it was found by the 
treaty. The treaty does not touch it, nor in any 
manner affect it. 

"But I must go further. I said that the treaty of 
"Washington was a treaty of equivalents, in which it 
was expected that each party should give something 
and receive something. I am now willing to meet any 
gentleman, be he a military man or not, who will make 
the assertion, that, in a military point of view, the 
greatest advantages derived from that treaty are on the 
side of Great Britain. It was on this point that I 
wished to say something in reply to an honourable 
member from New York, who will have it that in this 
treaty England supposes that she got the advantage 
of us. Sir, I do not think the military advantages she 
obtained by it are worth a rush. But even if they 
were, if she had obtained advantages of the greatest 
value, would it not have been fair in the member from 
New York to state, nevertheless, whether there were 
not equivalent military advantages obtained on our 
side, in other parts of the line ? Would it not have 
been candid and proper in him, when adverting to the 
military advantages obtained by England, in a commu- 
nication between New Brunswick and Canada, if such 
advantages there were, to have stated, on the other 
hand, and at the same time, our recovery of Rouse's 
Point, at the outlet of Lake Champlain ? an advantage 
which overbalanced all others, forty times told. I 
must be allowed to say, that I certainly never expected 
that a member from New York, above all other men, 
should speak of this treaty as conferring military 
advantages on Great Britain without full equivalents. 



STRATEGIC VALUE OF ROUSES POINT. 305 

I listened to it, I confess, with utter astonishment. 
A distinguished senator from that State saw at the 
time, very clearly, the advantage gained by this treaty 
to the United States and to New York. He voted 
willingly for its ratification, and he never will say that 
Great Britain obtained a balance of advantages in a 
military point of view. 

u Why, how is the State of New York affected by this 
treaty? Sir, is not Rouse's Point perfectly well- 
known, and admitted, by every military man, to be the 
key of Lake Champlain ? It commands every vessel 
passing up or down the lake, between New York and 
Canada. It had always been supposed that this point 
lay some distance south of the parallel of 45°, 
which was our boundary line with Canada, and there- 
fore was within the United States; and, under this 
supposition, the United States purchased the land, and 
commenced the erection of a strong fortress. But a 
more accurate survey having been made in 1818, by 
astronomers on both sides, it was found that the 
parallel of 45° ran south of this fortress, and thus 
Rouse's Point, with the fort upon it, was found to be 
in the British dominions. This discovery created, as 
well it might, a great sensation here. None knows 
this better than the honourable member from South 
Carolina, who was then at the head of the Depart- 
ment of War. As House's Point was no longer ours, 
we sent our engineers to examine the shores of the 
lake, to find some other place or places which we 
might fortify. They made a report on their return, 
saying that there were two other points some distance 
south of Rouse's Point, one called Windmill Point, on. 
the east side of the lake, and the other called Stony 



306 CANADA. 

Point, on the west side, which it became necessary now 
to fortify, and they gave an estimate of the probable 
expense. When this treat}' was in process of nego- 
tiation, we called for the opinion of military men 
respecting the value of Rouse's Point, in order to see 
whether it was highly desirable to obtain it. We had 
their report before us, in which it was stated that the 
natural and best point for the defence of the outlet of 
Lake Champlain was Rouse's Point. In fact, anybody 
might see that this was the case who would look at the 
map. The point projects into the narrowest passage 
by which the waters of the lake pass into the Riche- 
lieu. Any vessel passing into or out of the lake, must 
come within point-blank range of the guns of a fortress 
erected on this point ; and it ran out so far that anj r 
such vessel must approach the fort, head on, for several 
miles, so as to be exposed to a raking fire from the 
battery, before she could possibly bring her broadside 
to bear upon the fort at all. It was very different 
with the points farther south. Between them the 
passage was much wider ; so much so, indeed, that a 
vessel might pass directly between the two, and not be 
in reach of point-blank shot from either." 

Mr. Dickinson, of New York, here interposed, to 
ask whether the Dutch line did not give us Rouse's 
Point. 

" Certainly not. It gave us a semicircular line, run- 
ning round the fort, but not including what we had 
possessed before. And besides, we had rejected the 
Dutch line, and the whole point now clearly belonged 
to England. It was all within the British territory. 

" I was saying that a vessel might pass between Wind- 
mill Point and Stony Point, and be without the range 



MR. WEBSTER OX THE INVASION OF CANADA. 307 

of both, till her broadside could be brought to bear 
upon either of them. The forts would be entirely 
independent of each other, and, having no communica- 
tion, could not render each other the least assistance in 
case of attack. But the military men told us there 
was no sort of question that Rouse's Point was ex- 
tremely desirable as a point of military defence. This 
is plain enough, and I need not spend time to prove it. 
Of one thing I am certain, that the true road to 
Canada is by the way of Lake Champlain. That is the 
old path. I take to myself the credit of having said 
here, thirty years ago, speaking of the mode of taking- 
Canada, that, when an American woodsman undertakes 
to fell a tree, he does not begin by lopping off the 
branches, but strikes his axe at once into the trunk. 
The trunk, in relation to Canada, is Montreal, and the 
River St. Lawrence down to Quebec ; and so we found 
in the last war. It is not my purpose to scan the 
propriety of military measures then adopted, but I 
suppose it to have been rather accidental and unfor- 
tunate that we began the attack in L T pper Canada. It 
would have been better military policy, as I suppose, 
to have pushed oar whole force by the way of Lake 
Champlain, and made a direct movement on Montreal ; 
and though we might thereby have lost the glories of 
the battles of the Thames and of Lundy's Lane, and 
of the sortie from Fort Erie, yet we should have won 
other laurels of equal, and perhaps greater value, at 
Montreal. Once successful in this movement, the 
whole country above would have fallen into our power. 
Is not this evident to every gentleman ? 

" Rouse's Point is the best means of defending both 
the ingress into the lake, and the exit from it. And I 

x 2 



308 CANADA. 

say now, that on the whole frontier of the State of 
New York, with the single exception of the Narrows 
below the city, there is not a point of equal importance. 
I hope this government will last for ever; but if it 
does not, and if, in the judgment of Heaven, so great 
a calamity shall befall us as the rupture of this Union, 
and the State of New York shall thereby be thrown 
upon her own defences, I ask, is there a single point, 
except the Narrows, the possession of which she will 
so much desire ? No, there is not one. And how did 
we obtain this advantage for her ? The parallel of 45° 
north was established by the treaty of 1783 as our 
boundary with Canada in that part of the line. But, 
as I have stated, that line was found to run south of 
Rouse's Point. And how did we get back this pre- 
cious possession ? By running a semicircle like that 
of the King of the Netherlands ? No ; we went back 
to the old line, which had always been supposed to be 
the true line, and the establishment of which gave us 
not only Rouse's Point, but a strip of land containing 
some thirty or forty thousand acres between the paral- 
lel of 45° and the old line. 

" The same arrangement gave us a similar advantage 
in Vermont ; and I have never heard that the con- 
stituents of my friend near me made any complaint 
of the treaty. That State got about sixty or seventy 
thousand acres, including several villages, which would 
otherwise have been left on the British side of the line. 
We received Rouse's Point, and this additional land, 
as one of the equivalents for the cession of territory 
made in Maine. And what did we do for New 
Hampshire ? There was an ancient dispute as to 
which was the north- westernmost head of the Connec- 



VERMONT — NEW HAMPSHIRE. 309 

ticut River. Several streams were found, either of 
which might be insisted on as the true boundary. 
But we claimed that which is called HalFs Stream. 
This had not formerly been allowed ; the Dutch award 
did not give to New Hampshire what she claimed ; 
and Mr. Van Ness, our commissioner, appointed under 
the Treaty of Ghent, after examining the ground, 
came to the conclusion that we were not entitled to 
HalFs Stream. I thought that we were so entitled, 
although I admit that Hall's Stream does not join 
the Connecticut River till after it has passed the 
parallel of 45°. By the Treaty of Washington this 
demand was agreed to, and it gave New Hampshire 
100,000 acres of land. I do not say that we obtained 
this wrongfully ; but I do say that we got that which 
Mr. Van Ness had doubted our right to. I thought 
the claim just, however, and the line was established 
accordingly. And here let me say, once for all, that, 
if we had gone for arbitration, we should inevitably 
have lost what the treaty gave to Vermont and New 
York; because all that was clear matter of cession, and 
not adjustment of doubtful boundary " 

Unfortunately Mr. Webster but too well described 
our share of the advantages obtained by this c< treaty 
of equivalents." The consequences to us in a war 
might be more disastrous than those he indicated. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The Acadian Confederation — Union is Strength — The Provinces — 
New Brunswick — The Temperature — Trade of St John — Climate 
and Agriculture of Nova Scotia — Prince Edward Island — New- 
foundland — The Red River District — Assiniboia — The Red River 
Valley — Minnesota and the West — The Hudson's Bay Company — 
Their Territory — The North- West Regions — Climate of Winnipeg 
Basin — It3 Area — Finances of the Confederation — Imports, 
Exports, and Tonnagij — Proposed Federal Constitution — Lessons 
from the American Struggle. 

We have now seen the clangers which threaten 
Canada, we have to some extent examined the means of 
resisting them, and have followed the process by which 
a severe injury was inflicted on her powers of defence. 
Mr. Webster was a grand specimen of unscrupulous 
intelligence — he was a colossal " Yankee." It will be 
observed that he regarded the acquisitions so dex- 
terously made — quocunque modo rem — as valuable on 
account of their military capabilities — that he took the 
highest point accessible to the American mind when he 
showed that his work could be made available for the 
annoyance and injury of Great Britain. In so far he 
betrayed — if indeed there is any deception in the 
matter — the animating principle of American political 
life. Let any public man prove that he has hurt the 
English power or affronted it — that he has damnified 
its commerce and lowered its prestige, and the popular 
sentiment will applaud him, no matter the agency by 
which his purpose was effected. Recent events have 
greatly inflamed the spirit which always burned against 



UNION IS STRENGTH. 311 

us. The very events which have broken up the Union 
may resolve its fragments into a new combination more 
formidable and more aggressive. 

The course open to Canada, which may feel once 
more the force of that permanent principle in the 
American mind, is plain. Great Britain may be too 
far off. She may be too much, engaged to be able to 
aid Canada efficiently and fully. But on the borders 
of Canada there are provinces with great resources and 
a great future, which have hitherto been prevented by 
various considerations from welding themselves into a 
Confederation. The time has come now in the white 
heat of American strife for the adoption of the process. 
The Confederation of States with divers interests 
under a weak executive has fallen to pieces. All the 
more reason for a Confederation of States with common 
interests and with one governing principle. If we 
accept the common governing principle of all the 
Colonies and Provinces to be their attachment to 
Monarchical institutions, any pressure from the influ- 
ences of Republican institutions can but consolidate 
their union. 

Under the circumstances in which the various dis- 
tinct dependencies of the British Crown in the Con- 
tinent of North America find themselves placed, it is 
not surprising that the idea of a Confederation for the 
purposes of common defence and military corroboration 
should have arisen. It is surprising that it should 
have floated about so long, and have stirred men to 
action so feebly. I think it is the first notion that 
occurs to a stranger visiting Canada and casting about 
for a something to put in place of the strength which 
distant England cannot, and Canadians will not, afford. 



312 CANADA. 

At least, there is no sign as yet that the Canadians will 
quite arouse from a sleep which no fears disturb, 
although they hear the noise of robbers. They will not 
prepare for war, because they wish for peace, and it is 
plain enough that if war should come instead of peace, 
England would be too late to save them, because she 
would be too far. Now, let it not be supposed that any 
confederation of the Canadas and British North 
American provinces would yield such an increase of 
force as would enable the collective or several mem- 
bers of it to resist the force of the Republic of the 
Northern American United States — at least, not just 
now. But in the very conflict in which the Northern 
and Southern Confederations are engaged, we see the 
vast energy and resources of a union of States in war 
time as compared with the action of States not so 
joined : — France, Great Britain, Turkey, and Sardinia 
were associated in the war with Russia, but their power 
would have been much greater had they acted under a 
common head. There is in every association of the 
States the danger of ultimate convulsions, and of death 
itself, whenever the Constitution and ideas of one State 
differ from those of another : for the difference of con- 
stitution and ideas is sure to produce soon a conflict of 
interests and opinions which the bond of Federation 
cannot compress. In the two Canadas there are certain 
opposing principles at work which have interfered with 
harmonious action at times. These might receive 
greater vitality and power on each side if the cohesion 
of the British dependencies were not complete. The 
religious questions which now are mixed with questions 
of race would perhaps acquire development, and become 
more active and more mischievous. But the actual 



THE PROVINCES. 813 

positive visible clangers of non-Confederation are more 
weighty than those which may come by-and-by from 
the adoption of a common central government subject 
to the Crown. Setting out with the principle of sub- 
mission to the Throne — with the recognition of the 
sovereignty of the monarch of Great Britain and Ire- 
land — with the full acknowledgment of the rights and 
prerogatives pertaining to the Crown — with the charters 
of their several and collective liberties in their posses- 
sion, the only great schism to be apprehended is one 
which might arise from the exercise of Parliamentary 
control over the action of the Confederation, because 
colonists will never admit that the Parliament can stand 
in the place of the Crown. Let us take a glance at 
the vast area, and consider the importance of the various 
colonies which own now no bond of connection, except 
a common obedience to the Queen, in order that we 
may appreciate their strength as a Confederation. 

The Province of New Brunswick contains just 
28,000 square miles ; it lies between 45° and 48° lat. 
(north), and 63° 45" and 67° 50' long, (west), washed on 
the east by the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
and on the south by those of the Bay of Fundy. It 
has a very extensive seaboard, not less than two-thirds 
being maritime ; whilst on the west it is bounded by the 
frontier of the State of Maine, and on the north by 
Lower Canada. The population in 1851 was 193,000, 
and it probably is not less now than 225,000 souls. 
The boastfulness of the Americans, and more especially 
of New Englanders, in all that relates to their country, 
causes us to overlook the progress of our own colo- 
nies, and we shall be surprised to find the increase of 



314 CANADA. 

people in New Brunswick has been greater than that 
of Vermont, Maine, or New Hampshire, by an average 
of 10 per cent, within the decade np to 1851. The 
Government is vice-monarchical and parliamentary ; the 
Lieutenant-Governor of the Province being Commander- 
in-Chief, Admiral, and Chancellor. His ministers are 
the Executive Council, consisting of nine members, 
whose tenure of office depends on the will of the 
people, inasmuch as they must retire on a vote of want 
of confidence. The Parliament consists of the Legis- 
lative Council, which is somewhat analogous to the 
House of Peers. It is composed of 21 members, who 
are appointed by the Crown durante placito, but who 
usually hold office for life. Although the Peers of Par- 
liament are in one sense nominated by the Crown, they 
are legislators durante vita, and cannot be removed 
from their functions by the Crown, and in other 
respects there are defects in an analogy between them 
and the House of Lords. The House of Assembly, 
consisting of 41 members, is elected every four years 
by the people of the fourteen counties, and of the city 
of St. John. The House levies taxes and duties, and 
regulates the expenditure and internal affairs of the 
Province; but the Legislative Council may reject all 
its measures except those relating to money matters, 
and the assent of the Governor-General is needed to 
all measures whatever. But it does not follow that the 
consent of Council, Assembly, and Lieutenant-Governor 
will do more than stamp the measure with the popular 
and official imprimatur in the eyes of the Home Govern- 
ment, because Her Majesty in Council may reject any 
law whatever. It is rather in theory than in practice, 
however, that such an exercise of prerogative exists; 



NEW BRUNSWICK. 315 

but in case of any marked difference of opinion be- 
tween tbe Home Government and the Colonial Legis- 
lature, it is obvious that such a power, however con- 
sonant with monarchical right and tradition, might 
cause serious antagonism and create wide breaches. 
The risk of such disturbing influences would, of course, 
be diminished by the action of a general government. 

It is little more than 100 years since a number of 
English settlers and colonists, then loyal, coming from 
Massachusetts, sailed from Newbury Fort to the coast 
of New Brunswick, which had been ceded by France to 
the British in 1713. Constantly menaced by the French 
Canadians, the -few English who represented the Crown 
could scarcely be considered to hold the most attenuated 
possession of the Province, until the French, were 
obliged finally to cede all claims to the possession of 
an acknowledged nationality in British North America. 
The English maintained that the whole tract of country 
now known as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick belonged 
to the Crown by virtue of the discoveries of Sebastian 
Cabot; but the French were the first to found permanent 
settlements, and certainly gave good reason why Acadia, 
as they termed the district, despite its frosts and snows 
and long lugubrious winters, should belong to the 
fleur-de-lys. As soon as Wolfe's victory had estab- 
lished the power of England, the enterprising spirit of 
the New Englanders led them to undertake settlements 
in these neglected regions. They carried with them 
what they had derived from the old country — a love of 
law, not of litigation \ the forms of justice in the courts 
which administered its substance : — a magistracy, a 
police, a moral life and social liberty ; these were pos- 
sessed by the settlers at a time when the vast majority 



316 CANADA. 

of the people of Ireland was deprived of any sem- 
blance of such rights ; and when Scotland, unsuccessful 
in her last effort for legitimacy and the Divine right 
of kings, was just recovering from the swoon into 
which she had fallen as the last volleys rolled away 
from Culloden. 

The New Englanders who settled Mange mile and 
civilised Sunbury were loyal to the Crown in the revolt 
of the colonies ; they formed a nucleus round which 
gathered many of the New England Tories and their 
families, so that in 17S3 it was considered expedient 
by the Government to locate those who were called 
loyalists, and who shook the dust off their feet at the 
door of the New Republic, along the cleared settlements 
adjoining the Bay of Fundy and the water of St. John. 
It is strange that the first newspaper should have been 
printed by these outcasts at a time when there were 
scarcely half-a-dozen journals known in the mother 
country; but the peculiar circumstances under which 
these immigrants were placed no doubt developed the 
energies of a press which was not shackled by any 
political censorship. The wealth of the people lay 
around them ; their mines were in the forest, and the 
axe provided them with currency. To Sir Guy Carlton, 
the first Governor, when New Brunswick received a 
distinct Charter and a new Constitution and was sepa- 
rated from Nova Scotia, in 1788, must be conceded the 
credit of having nursed for twenty years, with singular 
care and success, the infancy of the colony : — a succes- 
sion of Presidents or Governors and Councillors, whose 
names are reproduced in the history of the American 
colonies, — such men as Beverley, Robinson, Putmau, 
TVinslow, and Ludlow, — succeeded in the charge, and 



THE TEMPERATURE 317 

gradually developed the resources of the rising com- 
munity. 

Fire has wrought more than one great wrong to this 
land of frost and snow. Yet it would not be just 
to describe New Brunswick as a Siberia. From 
Christmas to March the country is tolerably well pro- 
vided with a coating of snow. From April to May 
ploughing and seed time last, and before October 
the harvests are generally gathered in. A glorious 
autumn yields to the rainfalls of November, and 
these in their turn harden to sleet and snow in 
December ; but, after all, nearly seven months give 
space for sowing, ploughing, reaping, and saving. The 
New Brunswickers, indeed, believe that the very seve- 
rity of the frost in winter tends to render the cultiva- 
tion of the land more easy than it is in Britain ; and 
certainly rainfalls, and all the variableness of climate, 
do more injury in England than they do in New 
Brunswick. The greatest ranges of temperature are 
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they reach from 
20° below zero to 90° above it ; the highest tempera- 
ture at St. John may be reckoned at 86°, the lowest 
at 14°. There are about 180 clear days and 120 
cloudy days in the year, and the snow-storms rarely 
last more than two days at a time. Now here is a 
region to which one would think the bedrenched 
Highlander, the betaxed Englishman, and much-vexed 
Irishman would resort in myriads. And there is land 
for many. At least 6,000,000 acres of land suited for 
crops and wood settlements are still to be disposed of. 
For half-a-crown a man may buy an acre of land, but 
of that sum only 7hcL is demanded on sale, and the 
remainder may be paid in instalments extending over 



318 CANADA. 

three years. The sales of the country lands are 
monthly. If the settler likes to pay on the spot he 
can have his land for 2s. an acre. Think of that, con- 
acre men of Tipperary and Leitrim ! Think of that, 
farmers of the Lothians, or tenants of the Highland 
straths ! Shall I ask the men of Dorsetshire and East 
Gloucester to think of it too ? !S T or need they fear to 
change their mode of life, except it be for the better, 
after the first rude work of labour is done ; nor need 
they fear to suffer from climate or disease. Typhus 
Trill cease to kill — fever and dysentery to decimate. 
And if the settler has kinsmen and friends willing to 
join with him, he can claim for himself and each of 
them 100 acres of land, and pay for it by the work 
of road-making in the new country, so that in four 
years, if the work set by the Commissioners be exe- 
cuted, each man who has been one year resident and 
has brought ten acres into cultivation, becomes, ipso 
facto , owner of the whole lot of 100 acres. Now this 
is in a country which has been described by no incom- 
petent witness, not as the peer of any region on earth 
in the beauty of wood and water, but as the superior 
of the best. The St. John flows in all its grandeur 
through the midst of the province, and the Resti- 
gouche gives a charm of scenery to the forest not to be 
surpassed. Lakes and streams open up dell, valley, 
and mountain pass. Every creek in the much-in- 
dented coast swarms with fish. The Bay of Fundy 
abounds with codfish and pollock, hake, haddock, shad, 
herring, halibut, mackerel, eels, skate, and many other 
kinds of fish. The mouths of the rivers swarm with 
salmon, trout, striped basse, gaspereaux, shad, aud white 
trout. The Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Bav of 



TEADE OF ST. JOHN. 319 

Chaleurs yield nearly every description of valuable 
fish, as well as lobsters, crabs, oysters, and other shell- 
fish. The Province receives nearly 100,000£. a year in 
exchange for the fish packed in ice, or cured and ex- 
ported to foreign countries. Its wealth in timber is 
incalculable, because the value rises gradually with the 
demand for the produce of its forests all over the 
world, and, with prudent management, these forests may 
be considered as inexhaustible. Coal of a bituminous 
character has been worked for some years past in 
several districts ; iron, manganese, lead, and copper, also 
exist in considerable quantities, and the mineral produce 
of the Province will no doubt add much to its import- 
ance as the works receive greater development. 

Although the trade of shipbuilding does not show a 
regular increase, the size of the vessels built at St. 
John and Miramichi has been increasing. Upwards 
of 100 ships were launched at these ports in 1860, 
with a measurement of 41,000 tons, and were worth 
upwards of 320,000/. Various branches of trade have 
obtained respectable dimensions and are growing stea- 
dily. Prederieton, the capital of the Province, is 
situated on the St. John, eighty-two miles from the 
sea, where the navigation for sea-going ships may be 
regarded as at an end. The number of great lakes 
which are available for internal commerce and trans- 
port complete the facilities offered by the river system 
and by the main roads, the latter of which have been 
liberally promoted by the Province. The water power 
of the colony is boundless. Education is provided by 
the Legislature, so that the poorest man can give his 
children the advantage of a sound instruction almost 
without cost. Religion is free, and the voluntary 



320 CANADA. 

system mitigates the animosity of sects. Emigrants 
from the South of Ireland have found here all the con- 
ditions of prosperity, and have turned them to good 
account. Scotch and English thrive exceedingly. 
Indeed, if it were not that the greater clamour and 
bustle of the United States had succeeded in over- 
powering the appeals of New Brunswick to the favour 
of the emigrant, many thousands of our countrymen 
would have there found the ease and comfort which 
they have sought in vain under the rule of the Republic. 
The very name, New Brunswick, has no doubt repelled 
settlers. A New Brunswick ship they know nothing of 
even if they see one, and the name itself rarely reaches 
their ears. 

Nova Scotia formerly comprised the Province of 
New Brunswick, but is now reduced to the length of 
256 miles, and the breadth of 100 miles. The island 
of Cape Breton, which belongs to it, is 100 miles 
long, and 72 broad. The area of Nova Scotia and 
Cape Breton is over 18,000 square miles. The popula- 
tion is estimated at 370,000, the Census of 1561 having 
given 330,860 and the ratio of increase having been 
on an average of four per cent, per annum ; but emi- 
grants are rarely attracted to the colony. In 1561, 
of the people, 294,000 were native Nova Scotians, 
16,000 were of Scottish, 9,000 of Irish, 3,000 of English 
origin ; France, which founded the colony, had only v E 
representatives on land. The English Church had 
48,000 members, the Scotch Church numbered 58,000, 
the Church of Rome 80,000 ; there were 56,000 Baptists, 
34,000 "Wesleyans, and, wonderful to say, only 3 Deists. 
When it is considered that the coal-fields of Nova 



CLIMATE OF NOVA SCOTIA. 321 

Scotia are the finest in the -world, that her mining 
wealth is extraordinary, that her seas, lakes, and rivers 
teem with fish, that her forests yield the finest timber, 
that the soil gives an ample return to the farmer, 
and the earth is full of mineral resources, it is sur- 
prising that emigrants of limited means have not 
been tempted to try their fortune, in spite of the 
threatening skies and somewhat rigid winters. Nearly 
five millions and a half acres of land are still in 
the hands of the Crown, of which upwards of four 
million acres are open for settlement, and the average 
price is about Is. $cl. an acre. From a very trustworthy 
work prepared by Messrs. Hind, Keefer, Hodgins, 
Robb, Per ley, and the Rev. Wm. Murray, to which I 
am indebted for much valuable information, it would 
appear that the climate of Nova Scotia is by no means 
so severe as it is reported to be, both in Great Britain 
and the United States. Though, at some seasons, the 
weather is very severe, as compared with England, 
Ireland, the South of Scotland, and a great portion of 
the United States of America, still it is more conducive 
to health than the milder but more humid corresponding 
seasons in those countries. The length and severity 
of Nova Scotia winters are greatly compensated by the 
mildness and beauty of autumn — which is protracted, 
not unfrequently, into the middle of December — as well 
as by the months of steady sleighing which follow. The 
extreme of cold is 24° Fahr. below zero; the extreme 
of heat, 95° above, in the shade. These extremes have 
not been often attained to of late years. The mean tem- 
perature of the year is 43°. There are about 100 days in 
which the temperature is above 70° in summer. There 
are about twenty nights in the year in which the 

T 



322 CANADA. 

temperature is below zero. The coldest season is from 
the last week of December till the first week of March. 
The following table exhibits the annual mean temper- 
ature of several European cities, as compared with 
Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Toronto, C.W. : — 

Latitude. Fahrenheit. 

44° 40' . . . Halifax . . . 43*8 

43 39 . . . Toronto . . . 44*4 

52 31 . . . Berlin . . . 47'5 

53 23 . . . Dublin . . . 49-1 
50 7 . • Frankfort . . 49 5 
49 39 . . . Cherbourg . . . 52'1 

MEAN SUMMER TEMPERATURE. 

Fahrenheit. 

Halifax 62-0 

Toronto 64*5 

Greenwich 60 # 9 

Berlin 63"2 

Cherbourg 61"9 

The annual quantity of rain which falls is about 
forty-one inches. Of this quantity about six and a 
half inches fall in the form of snow. The annual depth 
of snow ;s eight and a half feet. Much of this quantity 
of snow is not allowed to rest long in its solid form. 
There are about 114 days of rain on the average in 
each year ; much of this occurs in winter. The average 
number of days of snow in each year is about sixty. 
Violent tempests are not of frequent occurrence in 
Nova Scotia. The prevailing winds are the south-west, 
west, and north-west. In summer the north, north- 
west, and west winds are cool and dry. In winter they 
are cold and piercing. The south and south-west are 
mild — agreeable — delightful. The north-east brings 
the greatest snow-storms ; the east and south-east the 
most disagreeable rain-storms. Spring commences in 



AGRICULTURE OF NOVA SCOTIA. 323 

Nova Scotia with the beginning of April. Seed-time 
and planting continue till the middle of June. Sum- 
mer begins with the latter part of June, and embraces 
July and August. Vegetation is very rapid in the 
middle and western parts of the province, where the 
hay crop, and usually nearly all the grain crops, are 
harvested by the last week of August or first week of 
September. Autumn is the finest season in Nova 
Scotia. It is mild, serene, and cool enough to be 
bracing, and the atmosphere is of a purity that 
renders it peculiarly exhilarating and health-giving. 
The " Indian summer " occurs sometimes as late as 
the middle of November, and lasts from three to ten 
days. The winter in Nova Scotia may be said to com- 
prise about four months. It begins, some seasons, with 
the 1st of December, and runs into the month of April. 
In other seasons it begins in the middle of December and 
ends with the last of March. The mean temperature of 
spring is 49°; of summer, 62°; of autumn, 35° ; of winter, 
22°. Similarity in agricultural productions furnishes 
a very fair criterion for the comparison of the climates 
of different countries. Wheat, rye, oats, barley, buck- 
wheat, Indian corn, potatoes, turnips, mangel-wurzel, 
tomatoes, and other roots and grains grow in abundance 
and perfection in Nova Scotia. Apples, pears, plums, 
cherries, and a multitude of smaller garden-fruits attain 
the utmost perfection. In some sections of the country 
peaches and grapes ripen in the open air. The climate 
of Nova Scotia is highly favourable both to health and 
length of days. Men and women frequently attain to 
the age of eighty years with the full possession of their 
mental faculties, and in excellent bodily health. It is 
not unusual to find men enjoying good health at ninety; 

t 2 



324 CANADA. 

and not a few reach one hundred years, while some 
pass that extreme boundary. Let the proportion of 
deaths to population in Nova Scotia be compared with 
that in Great Britain and the State of Rhode Island : — 

Nova Scotia, 1 iu 70*71, or less than 1£ per cent. 
Rhode Island, 1 in 4 6 '11, or more than 2 „ 

Great Britain, 1 in 44*75, or more than 2 „ 

The climate of Nova Scotia is not noted for the 
generation of any disease peculiar to itself. Diphtheria 
has, of late years, been its most terrible scourge. 

Prince Edward Island — called so after the father of 
Queen Victoria — is another member of the great group 
of British colonies and dependencies. This island, 
which is about 180 miles long and 30 miles broad, has less 
than 100,000 inhabitants. It contained less than 5,000 
souls in 1770, when it was separated from the govern- 
ment of Nova Scotia, and was erected into an inde- 
pendent province under unfavourable circumstances, 
arising out of the unfortunate conditions which were 
made when the land was allotted to the original pro- 
prietors. The early history of the colony afforded a 
remarkable exemplification of wrong- doing with good 
intentions, and the errors of the first English rulers 
who regulated the settlement of the province were not 
atoned for till many years of patient effort on the part 
of the people had been devoted to a removal of abuses. 
The island is under a Governor named by the Crown, 
whose Cabinet consists of an Executive Council of nine, 
selected from the Legislative Council and from the 
House of Assembly, the former consisting of twelve, 
the latter of thirty members, elected by the people. 



THE RED RIVER DISTRICT. 325 

Newfoundland is 420 miles long, and has an extreme 
breadth of 300 miles. The population is now about 
130,000. Notwithstanding its name, there is reason to 
believe that it was known to Icelanders and Norwegians, 
to Vikings and Danes, four centuries before Cabot came 
upon his Bonavista. The early history of our connec- 
tion with this great island is not creditable to those 
who had influence with the home authorities. In 
1832, following the principle of universal suffrage, 
which was considered applicable to a colony, though it 
was rejected at home, a Legislative system w r as erected 
on the basis of manhood franchise, the only qualifica- 
tion being that the voter should have been a year in 
the same house. The Governor, who is of course a 
representative and nominee of the Crown, is assisted 
by an Executive Council of five members, and the 
Parliament consists of a Legislative Council of twelve 
and a House of Assembly of thirty members. 

There exists on the west of Canada a vast region 
which may, perhaps, become great and flourishing in 
less time than the districts which, inhabited by red 
men and wild beasts in 1776, now form some of the 
most important of the North and South American 
States. 

It is one of the very greatest of the evils connected 
with our parliamentary system, that small or local 
interests at home are likely to receive attention in pre- 
ference to the largest general interests of dependencies. 
The Colonial Office is a sort of buffer between Parlia- 
ment and the shocks of colonial aggressions and 
demands ; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer can 
at any time find easy means of squelching any ten- 



32 G CANADA. 

dency in the chancellor of a barbarian administration 
"to dip his finger" into the Imperial purse. Now, 
when " the People of Red River settlement" address 
a memorial to the British and Canadian Governments 
with the view of obtaining a road to open up the 
wonderfully fine country they inhabit to British sub- 
jects and to commerce, without dependency on the 
United States, it may so happen that at the period in 
question the smallest claim of a metropolitan borough 
shall be considered of far greater preponderance; nor 
will the Government or the Colonial Office at any time 
be much disposed to irritate a friendly member who is 
inimical to colonies, or to provoke the animosity of 
economists, for an object which is as intangible and in- 
comprehensible to the mass of Parliament as a project 
to run a railway to Eutopia, or to connect Timbuctoo with 
China. Mr. Sandford Fleming, who has been selected 
as the agent of these very settlers, has set forth their case 
with much ability; but he will scarce become the 
Lesseps of this overland Suez, unless some members of 
the House, who really look beyond the interests of the 
day, and take heed for the future of the Empire, can 
be induced to listen to his facts and arguments. In 
1863 a statement was submitted by that gentleman to 
Lord Monck in elucidation of the memorial of the 
settlers, which contains most interesting facts and some 
valuable arguments. Among the works of good Govern- 
ments the making of roads and securing of easy means 
of intercommunication among the people subject to 
them must ever be of paramount importance. The 
people of Red River ask for the opening of the Lake 
Superior route to British Columbia, and to have a tele- 
graphic line established, to both of which objects they 



THE EED RIVER DISTRICT. 327 

will contribute to the best of their ability. The point 
of British territory nearest to the Red River settlement 
by water is on the northern shore of Lake Superior, 400 
miles distant ; and the intervening distance can only be 
traversed by a combined system of " portages " and 
canoe voyages so difficult and tedious as in effect to bar 
the access of commercial enterprise, and to chill any 
spirit but that of adventurous geography, amateur 
travel, or the search after gold and game — thus, in fact, 
constituting obstacles which are well described as "prac- 
tically exiling the settlers for the last two generations." 
The route proposed for the links which are to connect the 
exiles with the world would be a part of the great project 
to connect the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific within 
the British possessions ; and it is maintained that the 
favourable character of the Red River district for such 
a road removes the objections which might be formed on 
the ground of distance and difficulty. The Hudson's Bay 
Company used the Pigeon River route, which runs along 
by the boundary of the United States, and is therefore not 
desirable in case of hostilities, and the Kaministiguia 
route, called so from the river of that name. Mr. 
Fleming, taking up the suggestions of Mr. Dawson in 
his report to the Canadian Government, recommends 
the creation of a territorial road from some point in 
connection with the railway system, such as Ottawa, to 
Nipigon Bay on Lake Superior, which would be ample 
as a trading port, whence a stage and steamboat com- 
munication could be established by making 197 miles 
of roads and two dams — one at the outlet of Dog Lake, 
and the other at Little Falls; or, by making 232 miles 
of road, and a couple of locks at Fort Francis, and a 
dam, the route might be reduced to 273 miles of water, 



32 S CANADA. 

if the road were pushed on to Savanne River. It 
must be remembered that the Americans have already 
established a route by Chicago ; but an examination of 
the distances from Toronto shows that the Lake Supe- 
rior route would save no less than 715 miles of rail, 35 
of water, and 5S of road. The American route, however, 
possesses the advantage of having already 820 miles of 
rail, of which 514 carry the traveller to Chicago from 
Toronto, and 306 convey him from Chicago to Prairie 
La Crosse ; whereas there is only a length of 95 miles 
open in Canada, from Toronto westwards to Colling- 
wood. There is also an American route by Detroit, Mil- 
waukee, and La Crosse to Fort Garry, 1696 miles long, 
but that is still 646 miles longer than the communica- 
tion which could be made by means of 232 miles of 
road, the construction of a dam and the locks in ques- 
tion. Labour might be tempted by offering, as is 
suggested, blocks of 100 acres to settlers on condition 
of their giving ten days 5 work in each year for ten 
years on the road, and thus preparing it for a railway 
track; but the settlers must be more patient and easily 
satisfied than their language now indicates, if they are 
content with the prospect of such a tedious fulfilment 
of their wishes. They are willing to open a road 
100 miles long to the Lake of Woods if England or 
Canada will guarantee the rest of the road to Lake 
Superior ; and they believe such a road would rapidly 
fill Central British America with an industrious loyal 
people, and counteract the influence of the North 
American Republics. Whether the grand confedera- 
tion which they foresee of flourishing provinces from 
Vancouver's Island to Nova Scotia, commanding the 
Atlantic and the Pacific, and keeping in line the 



ASSIXIBOIA. 329 

boundaries of the Republicans, be ever realised in our 
day, it is plain that the people will neither be British 
nor loyal if they are neglected. The Americans 
have long been turning their eyes in the direction of 
these regions. Mr. Sibley, the last Governor of 
Minnesota, ordered Mr. James W. Taylor to obtain 
reliable information relative to the physical aspects 
and other facts connected with the British possessions 
on the line of the overland route from Pembina, via the 
Bed River settlement and the Saskatchewan Valley, to 
Frazer's River. That gentleman's report was presented 
by Governor Ramsay to the Legislature of the State in 
1860, with a recommendation to their attention as 
" relating to matters which concern in a great degree 
the future growth and development of our State." 
Mr. Taylor was received by Mr. McTavish at the Selkirk 
settlement with every respect and consideration. He 
found the British colony of Assiniboia prosperous and 
flourishing. Respecting that colony he says : — 

" Of the present community of ten thousand souls, 
about five thousand are competent, at this moment, to as- 
sume any civil or social responsibility which may be im- 
posed upon them. The accumulations from the fur trade 
during fifty years, with few excitements or opportunities 
of expenditure, have secured general prosperity, with 
frequent instances of affluence; while the numerous 
churches and schools sustain a high standard of 
morality and intelligence. 

" The people of Selkirk fully appreciate the advan- 
tages of communication with the Mississippi River and 
Lake Superior through the State of Minnesota. They 
are anxious for the utmost facilities of trade and inter- 
course. The navigation of the Red River by a steam- 



330 CANADA. 

boat during the summer of 1859 was universally 
recognised as marking a new era in their annals. This 
public sentiment was pithily expressed by the remark : 
f In 1851 the Governor of Minnesota visited us; in 
1859 comes a steamboat; and ten years more will 
bring the railroad ! ' " 

The persons who expressed that sentiment differed 
entirely from the memorialists already mentioned ; 
but it must be that the Selkirk people, if neglected, 
will incline towards the hand which is stretched out to 
them across the waste, no matter whence it comes. 
" Most amicable relations " do no doubt " exist between 
the trading post at Port Garry and Kitson's Station at 
St. Boniface;" but long as they may endure— and I 
trust they may be perpetual — they will not amount to a 
preference for Republican institutions, if the mother 
country seeks to secure the settlers by the most tender 
or subtle link of interest or regard. What change 
may be made in respect to the jurisdiction and powers 
of the Hudson's Bay Company by the home autho- 
rities must depend for the time on circumstances ; but 
the actual settlers seem to hope that the rumours 
which attributed to Lord Derby's Government the in- 
tention of organising a colony, bounded by Lakes 
Superior and Winnipeg on the east, by the Rocky 
Mountains on the west, by the American frontier on 
the south, and by lat. 55 deg. on the north, may yet be 
justified. The Canadian Government, Palliser's expe- 
dition, Noble's explorations, Mr. J. W. Hamilton's 
surveys, and a considerable number of public and 
private investigations conducted in the interests of 
politics, commerce, religion, and geographical science, 
have all contributed their share to our knowledge of 



THE RED EIVER VALLEY. 331 

this vast territory ; and the more we know of it the 
more eligible it seems as a field for individual enter- 
prise, and an area for the exercise of legitimate Imperial 
ambition. 

From Lake Winnipeg to the highest navigable point 
of Red River, which flows into the lake with a course 
from north to south, there is a distance of 575 miles, 
only interrupted by some very insignificant shoals at the 
mouth of Goose River and the Shayenne. Red Lake 
River and the Assiniboina extend the area of "coast" 
navigable by steamers in the Red River Valley to 900 
miles— much more than is enjoyed internally by the 
United Kingdom and France together. Throughout 
the districts thus permeated by navigable rivers, rye, 
oats, barley, potatoes, grass, and wheat, grow as well as 
they do in Minnesota; and to these wild regions must 
be added the country along the great north Saskat- 
chewan, and even the region which lies between it and 
the Rocky Mountains in a northerly direction. When 
Mr. Taylor wrote his Report, there was no reason to 
believe that " an adjustment of the future relations of 
the British Provinces and of the American States on a 
basis of mutual good- will and interest n might not be 
practicable; but Fort Sumter changed all that, we 
fear, and there seems little chance of such an inter- 
national compact as he anticipates for a customs and 
postal union. In reference to such an adjustment he 



" It should, at all events, stipulate that the Recipro- 
city Treaty, enlarged in its provisions and renewed for a 
long period of years, shall be extended to the Pacific 
Ocean, and, in connection therewith, all laws discrimi- 
nating between American and foreign built vessels 



332 CANADA. 

should be abolished, establishing freedom of navigation 
on all the intermediate rivers and lakes of the respective 
territories. Such a policy of free trade and navigation 
with British America would give to the United States, 
and especially to the western States, all the com- 
mercial advantages, without the political embarrass- 
ments, of annexation, and would, in the sure progress 
of events, relieve our extended northern frontier from 
the horrors and injuries of war between fraternal com- 
munities." 

It is little to be doubted that the people of Minne- 
sota are very well disposed to remain on friendly terms 
with their neighbours ; but the Federal Government 
at Washington, no matter for what part}?- or section it 
acts, must, by the very necessity of its being and con- 
ditions of power, conduct the policy of the United 
States in a xery different spirit. It is true, our friends 
have, even so early, given some indications that they 
are prepared for eventualities. 

Whilst they have not been indifferent to the erection 
of a military post at Pembina, some of their politicians, 
with a ludicrous pretence of fear from the colonists, in 
case of war, have called for the creation of frontier 
forts ; and the Indians in the north-west of Minnesota, 
who had a reservation, are to be treated with the usual 
measure of justice used by the white skin in dealing 
with the red skin, and to be exterminated or driven 
into space as soon as convenient or practicable. Mr. 
Taylor, in reference to the existence of coal near 
the sources of the Saskatchewan, which is undoubted, 
admits the uncertainty of carboniferous strata in the 
ridges between the Minnesota and the Hed River north 
of the Mississippi and Saskatchewan, though there are 



MINNESOTA AND THE WEST. 333 

geological reasons to hold that they will be found 
there. In justice to the spirit in which this Report is 
conceived, I quote the concluding passages : — 

" The allusion just made to the exploring expedition 
conducted under the authority of Canada, justifies a 
tribute to the zeal and intelligence with which the 
enterprise of an emigration and transportation route, 
from Fort William on the north shore of Lake Superior, 
to Fort Garry, is prosecuted. With the civil organisation 
of Central British America, a waggon road between 
those points, to be followed by a railroad, will re- 
ceive all requisite encouragement, certainly from the 
Canadian Treasury, perhaps by the efficient co-operation 
of the Home Government. The North-west Transit 
Company, acting under a Canadian charter, but under- 
stood to have enlisted London capitalists, is expected 
to resume operations during the summer of 1860. 
These movements of our provincial neighbours cannot 
fail to influence the policy of Minnesota in favour of 
more satisfactory communications than we now possess 
between Lake Superior and the channels of the Upper 
Mississippi and the Red River of the north. 

" I desire, in conclusion, to express my obligations 
to the late Executive of Minnesota, for the confidence 
implied by the commission, to which the foregoing is a 
response. Believing firmly that the prosperity and 
development of this State is intimately associated with 
the destiny of North-west British America, I am 
gratified to record the rapid concurrence of events 
which indicate that the frontier, hitherto resting upon 
the sources of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, 
is soon to be pushed far beyond the international 
frontier by the march of Anglo-Saxon civilisation." 



334 CANADA. 

It is indeed " a country worth fighting for ; " and 
whether the contest be carried on by the slow processes 
of immigration or by the ruder agencies of neglect, 
the conqueror and the conquered will have reason to 
regard the result with very decided sentiments of joy 
or sorrow at no distant time. In the language of 
the report of the New York Chamber of Com- 
merce — " There is in the heart of North America 
a distinct sub-division, of which Lake Winnipeg 
may be regarded as the centre. This sub -division, 
like the valley of the Mississippi, is distinguished for 
the fertility of its soil, and for the extent and gentle 
slope of its great plains, watered by rivers of great 
length, and admirably adapted for steam navigation. 
It has a climate not exceeding in severity that of many 
portions of Canada and the eastern States. It will, 
in all respects, compare favourably with some of the 
most densely peopled portions of the continent of 
Europe. In other words, it is admirably fitted to 
become the seat of a numerous, hardy, and prosperous 
community. It has an area equal to eight or ten first- 
class American States. Its great river, the Saskat- 
chewan, carries a navigable water-line to the very base 
of the Rocky Mountains. It is not at all improbable 
that the valley of this river may yet offer the best route 
for a railroad to the Pacific. The navigable waters of 
this great sub-division interlock with those of the Mis- 
sissippi. The Red River of the north, in connection 
with Lake Winnipeg, into which it falls, forms a navi- 
gable water-line, extending directly north and south 
nearly eight hundred miles. The Red River is one of 
the best adapted to the use of steam in the world, and 
waters one of the finest regions on the continent. 



the Hudson's bay company. 335 

Between the highest point at which it is navigable, and 
St. Paul, on the Mississippi, a railroad is in process of 
construction ; and when this road is completed, another 
grand division of the continent, comprising half a 
million square miles, will be open to settlement." 

It would be unjust to the Hudson's Bay Company 
to refuse them the praise due to the efforts of their 
servants in exploring the vast region over which they 
ruled, and to the constancy with which they have 
resisted aggression ; but as the privileges of that body 
have now become part of the stock-in-trade of a great 
mercantile association, there can be no reason for 
doubting that a change of policy, in consonance with 
the tone of the governing sentiment of the age, will 
take place, and that the interests of free trade, and the 
more extensive interests connected with Imperial and 
Colonial progress and with colonisation itself, will be 
found not incompatible. When the ichthyophilists of 
London betake themselves, in the leafy month of June, 
to Gravesend, in search of the placid turtle or the 
strenuous shrimp, they may be startled by the booming 
of guns from the bosom of the river, and by certain 
loud cheers from two strict-rigged craft anchored in 
the stream. A gaily-decked river-steamer, from the 
flag- staff of which flutters a hieroglyph in blue and 
white, with the motto, "Pro pelle cutem" is lying along- 
side the larger of the two. On board the steamer are 
many sorts and conditions of men — the friends of 
directors, outlying members of both Houses, old salts 
and older commercial personages, and men wearing the 
bright, crisp, clean look of prosperous clerkdom. These 
circulate from the deck of the steamer to the broader 
expanse of the vessel alongside, where a. stout weather- 



336 CANADA. 

beaten crew are drawn up, listening to the recital of 
articles. Dipping down the companion it is probable 
that the visitor will find in the captain's cabin an assem- 
blage of gentlemen, eating biscuit and drinking sherry 
to the health of the skipper, whilst others are peering 
into compartments and berths ; twixt bulkheads filled 
with odd merchandise, from gas-pipe-barrelled guns 
to needles, anchors, blankets, crinoline, and artificial 
flowers. They are people whom we might meet in any 
place in London from west to east, wearing the inde- 
scribable air of men " out for the day." On deck are 
some old-fashioned brass-bound boxes," inscribed " Hud- 
son's Bay Company," guarded by very ancient and fish- 
like attendants, in a red and blue livery. The steamer 
leaves the bluff double- cased sides of the vessel for a visit 
to her consort, for the two ships now-a-days form the 
sum total of the fleet sailing annually to the Hudson's 
Bay settlements, where once there was a flotilla of 
smaller craft, dressed in all their bravery of flags, and 
making old Gravesend re-echo to their salvos as they 
w r ent forth on that which was then a dubious and 
adventurous voyage. Then, after much leave-taking, 
and drinking of anchor cups, the steamer starts, amid 
the cheers of the outward-bound crew, for the Nore, to 
enjoy a little fresh air before she comes back to the 
Falcon at Gravesend, where the annual dinner is held, 
and where many good speeches are made and friendly 
sentiments expressed in support of the Hudson's Bay 
Company. The sagacious face of old Edward Ellice, 
seamed with the fine graver of thought, and plastic still 
as in youth, for many a long year fixed men's eyes 
with kindly regard; and the mitis sapientia of his 
counsels, his unrivalled tact, albeit the exquisite touch 



THE HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORY. 337 

lay inside a shagreen glove, and his great ability in the 
conduct of affairs, gave the Company that which 
Rupert's charters, Charles's parchments, or prescriptive 
rights, never could have secured so long. 

It was under Sir E. L. Bulwers administration of 
foreign affairs that the most strenuous attempt was 
made by the Government to adjust the conflicting claims 
of Canada and Great Britain with those of the Hudson's 
Bay Company, by the decision of the Judicial Committee 
of Privy Council; but the Company, though always 
willing to enter into an arrangement with the Govern- 
ment for the adjustment of contending interests, uni- 
formly and not unwisely refused to accept any arbitra- 
tion or judgment involving the question of the validity 
of their charters. The refusal of Parliament to renew 
the exclusive right of trading, in 1859, and the 
assumption of the control of Vancouver's Island by 
the Crown on the expiration of the lease in the same 
year, were heavy blows at the vested interests of the 
Company, which deprived its cessio bonorum to the 
English Credit Mobilier, in 1863, of great political im- 
portance, though enormous commercial results may 
still be obtained from the extension of trading and 
from settling and gold-exploring operations. "When 
the speedy colonisation and rapid rise of British 
Columbia caused some attention to be directed towards 
the means of getting there, and of cultivating an ac- 
quaintance promising such great advantages, and it 
was found that from east to west two routes were 
practicable, it was not surprising if jealousy and alarm 
were aroused because the Americans, by further re- 
presentations, unhappily baseless, respecting the energy 
of the initiative taken by Canada and England, had 



338 CANADA. 

first started to clear the way to the west, and to 
open communications with the Red River settlement, 
en route. Fort Garry, in the Selkirk settlement, was 
first visited by a steamer from the American post of 
Port Abercrombie, in 1859. Minnesota was a State 
which had the advantage of a continental existence 
on the soil of the Great Republic. " Organised as 
a territory in 1849, a single decade had brought the 
population, the resources, and the public recogni- 
tion of an American State. A railroad system, con- 
necting the lines of the Lake States and Provinces 
at La Crosse with the international frontier on the 
Red River at Pembina, was not only projected, but 
had secured in aid of its construction a grant by 
the Congress of the United States of three thousand 
eight hundred and forty acres a mile, and a loan of 
State credit to the amount of twenty thousand dollars 
a mile, not exceeding an aggregate of five million 
dollars. Different sections of this important extension 
of the Canadian and American railways were under 
contract and in process of construction. In addition, 
the land surveys of the Federal Government had 
reached the navigable channel of xhe Red River ; and 
the line of frontier settlement, attended by a weekly 
mail, had advanced to the same point. Thus the 
Government of the United States, no less than the 
people and authorities of Minnesota, were represented 
in the north-west movement." 

No matter how prosperous a colony of Great Britain 
may be, a colony it must be so long as it is not inde- 
pendent. The first result of the prosperity of an 
American colony is its independence as a State, and its 
incorporation as a member of the common sovereignty. 



THE NORTH-WESTERN REGIONS. 339 

The distinction arises from geographical considerations, 
but it is not the less potent — I shall not yet say, more 
to be regretted. The retention of Canada would be of 
little value to us if there were to the west of it a great 
and populous community, absorbing its capital, labour, 
and enterprise for the benefit of aliens, and if to the 
south there were a series of States animated by an 
intense political dislike to the mother country. But 
there is, as they say in Ireland, " the makings " of four 
free and independent States, on the American model of 
Ohio, in that district between the valleys of the North 
and South Saskatchewan. In 1858 an American 
writer again described the region which the British 
Government, the Colonial Office, and the Imperialism 
of bureaux, inclined to cast away without even a mess 
of pottage. That writer says : — 

" Here is the great fact of the north-western areas 
of this continent. An area not inferior in size to the 
whole United States east of the Mississippi, which is 
perfectly adapted to the fullest occupation by cultivated 
nations, yet is almost wholly unoccupied, lies west of 
the 98th meridian, and above the 43rd parallel, that 
is, north of the latitude of Milwaukee, and west of 
the longitude of Red River, Fort Kearney, and Corpus 
Christi ; or, to state the fact in another way, east of 
the Rocky Mountains, and west of the 9Sth meridian, 
and between the 43rd and 60th parallels, there is a 
productive, cultivable area of 500,000 square miles. 
West of the Rocky Mountains and between the same 
parallels, there is an area of 300,000 square miles. 

" It is a great mistake to suppose that the tempera- 
ture of the Atlantic coast is carried straight across the 
continent to the Pacific. The isothermals deflect 

z 2 



340 CANADA. 

greatly to the north, and the temperatures of the 
Northern Pacific are paralleled in the high tempera- 
tures in high latitudes of Western and Central Europe. 
The latitudes which inclose the plateaus of the Mis- 
souri and Saskatchewan, in Europe inclose the rich 
central plains of the Continent. The great grain 
growing districts of Russia lie between the 45th and 
60th parallel, that is, north of the latitude of St. 
Paul, Minnesota, or Eastport, Maine. Indeed, the 
temperature in some instances is higher for the same 
latitudes here than in Central Europe. The isothermal 
of 70 deg. for the summer, which on our plateau ranges 
from along latitude 50 deg. to 52 deg., in Europe skirts 
through Vienna and Odessa in about parallel 46 deg. 
The isothermal of 55 deg. for the year runs along the 
coast of British Columbia, and does not go far from 
New York, London, and Sebastopol. Furthermore, 
dry areas are not found above 47 deg., and there are 
no barren tracts of consequence north of the Bad 
Lands and the Coteau of the Missouri ; the land grows 
grain finely, and is well wooded. All the grains of the 
temperate districts are here produced abundantly, and 
Indian corn may be grown as high as the Saskat- 
chewan. 

" The buffalo winters as safely on the upper Athabasca 
as in the latitude of St. Paul, and the spring opens 
at nearly the same time along the immense line of* 
plains from St. Paul to Mackenzie's River. To these 
facts, for which there is the authority of Blodgett's 
Treatise on the Climatology of the United States, may 
be added this, that to the region bordering the Northern 
Pacific, the finest maritime positions belong throughout 
its entire extent, and no part of the west of Europe 



CLIMATE OF WINNIPEG BASIN. 341 

exceeds it in the advantages of equable climate, fertile 
scil, and commercial accessibility of coast. We have 
the same excellent authority for the statement that in 
every condition forming the basis of national wealth, 
the continental mass lying westward and northward from 
Lake Superior is far more valuable than the interior in 
lower latitudes, of which Salt Lake and Upper New 
Mexico are the prominent known districts. In short, 
its commercial and industrial capacity is gigantic. 
Its occupation was coeval with the Spanish occupation 
of New Mexico and California." 

The climate of this district is at least as favourable 
to the agriculturist as that of Kingston, Upper Canada, 
and is quite salubrious. Special science thus describes 
it:— 

Professor Hind, who spent two summers in the 
country in charge of an expedition sent out by the 
Canadian Government, writes : " The basin of Lake 
Winnipeg extends over twenty-eight degrees of 
longitude, and ten degrees of latitude. The elevation 
of its eastern boundary, at the Prairie Portage, 104 
miles west of Lake Superior, is 1480 feet above the 
sea, and the height of land at the Vermillion Pass is 
less than 5000 feet above the same level. The mean 
length of this great inland basin is about 920 English 
miles, and its mean breadth 380 miles ; hence its area 
is approximately 360,000 square miles, or a little more 
than that of Canada. 

" Lake Winnipeg, at an altitude of 628 feet above 
the sea, occupies the lowest depression of this great 
inland basin, covering with its associated lakes, Mani- 
tobah, Winnipegosis, Dauphin, and St. Martin, an 
area slightly exceeding 13,000 square miles, or nearly 



342 CANADA. 

half as much of the earth's surface as is occupied by 
Ireland. 

" The outlet of Lake Winnipeg is through the con- 
tracted and rocky channel of Nelson River, which flows 
into Hudson's Bay. 

"The country, possessing a mean elevation of 100 
feet above Lake Winnipeg, is very closely represented 
by the outline of Pembina Mountain, forming part of 
the eastern limit of the cretaceous series in the north- 
west of America. 

" The area occupied by this low country, which 
includes a large part of the valley of Red River, the 
Assiniboine, and the main Saskatchewan, may be esti- 
mated at 70,000 square miles, of which nine-tenths are 
lakes, marsh, or surface rock of Silurian or Devonian 
age, and, generally so thinly covered with soil as to be 
unfit for cultivation, except in small isolated areas. 

" Succeeding this low region there are the narrow 
terraces of the Pembina Mountain, which rise in abrupt 
steps, except in the valleys of the Assiniboine, Valley 
River, Swan River, and Red Deer's River, to the level 
of a higher plateau, whose eastern limit is formed by 
the precipitous escarpments of the Riding, Duck, and 
Porcupine Mountains, with the detached outliers, 
Turtle, Thunder, and Pasquia Mountains. This is the 
great prairie plateau of Rupert's Land; it is bounded 
towards the south-west and west by the Grand Coteau 
de Missouri, and the extension of the tableland between 
the two branches of the Saskatchewan, which forms the 
eastern limit of the plains of the north-west. The area 
of the prairie plateau, in the basin of Lake Winnipeg, 
is about 120,000 square miles; it possesses a mean 
elevation of 1100 feet above the sea. 



AREA OF WINNIPEG BASIN. 343 

" The plains rise gently as the Rocky Mountains are 
approached, and at their western limit have an altitude 
of 4000 feet above the sea level. With only a very 
narrow belt of intervening country, the mountains rise 
abruptly from the plains, and present lofty precipices 
that frown like battlements over the level country to 
the eastward. The average altitude of the highest 
part of the Rocky Mountains is 12,000 feet (about lat. 
51 deg). The forest extends to the altitude of 7000 
feet, or 2000 feet above the lowest pass. 

* The fertile belt of arable soil, partly in the form of 
rich, open prairie, partly covered with groves of aspen, 
which stretches from the Lake of the Woods to the 
foot of the Rocky Mountains, averages 80 to 100 miles 
in breadth " 

Dr. James Hector, and all the explorers, agree in 
their descriptions of this region. It is difficult to 
reach; but is it so difficult to reach as the shores of 
America itself were, 300, or 200, or 100 years ago ? 
We cannot conceive what a century has done in Ame- 
rica, or at home. How little, then, can we conjecture 
what the next fifty years will effect in these distant 
lands ! The map, which now is crowded with the 
names of cities where red men roamed in terra incog- 
nita so recently as the beginning of this century, 
should reprove any incredulity. The nations are like 
water. When a country is filled above its capacity, its 
surplus overflows. As soon as all the eligible districts 
of Canada are occupied, the streams of settlers will 
pour westwards ; tracks and roads will be made ; and, 
if the land be good, it will soon be filled with people. 
As to the great regions which lie to the west, and open 
on the Pacific, it can only be said that they are to us 



34,4 CANADA. 

what California was to the United States on the first 
discovery of gold ; and that after fifty years they may 
be less than California is now, if steps be not taken to 
bind them up with British interests, and to oppose 
the Americanisation with which they are threatened. 
Without reference to the Far West, or the Far North- 
West, — without regard to the Red River and Assiniboia 
or to British Columbia, there is before us the great fact, 
that out of the Canadas, and the British North Ame- 
rican Provinces and dependencies, can be created a 
powerful Confederation attached to this country, and 
capable of the grandest development in spite of clima- 
tic influences. We have already given a slight sketch 
of the extent and capability of these provinces, and 
hinted at the difficulties that may arise in the working 
of the Confederation. Canada is now more than 
threatened with the loss of the advantages which were 
supposed to depend on the Reciprocity Treaty, and 
v Great Britain is formally warned that she must pre- 
pare to meet Federal encroachments on the Lakes. 
Mr. Gait, in a very elaborate speech, exhaustive of the 
topics connected with the financial aspect of the future 
Confederation, lately laid before his hearers a series of 
calculations which deserve close attention, and which 
are, we believe, entitled to full confidence. The United 
States at the end of the year 1865 will either have 
effected the subjugation of the South by the destruc- 
tion of all her armies in the field, or she will see an 
increase to her debt of at least forty millions sterling, 
or she will have arranged a compromise with the South 
of which one feature will be the assumption of the 
Southern debt. In the first case, the North must pre- 
pare for a long and costly military occupation. In no 



FINANCES OF THE CONFEDERATION. 345 

case as yet have the trade and commerce of any Southern 
port or city subjugated and held by Union troops, paid 
the Federal Government for the cost of holding it. In 
the second case, increase of taxation must fall with 
such a crushing weight on the poorer classes, especially 
in the agricultural States, as to force many of the 
people to take refuge in Canada, unless deterred by 
unforeseen obstacles. In the third case, the imme- 
diate result will be to throw on the Northern States 
for some considerable period, a greater amount of debt, 
and of consequent derangement, than they would have 
been subjected to by either of the preceding conditions. 
There can be no just comparison between the United 
States and the projected Confederation, except in the 
ratio of taxation per capita. And, if we take income, 
expenditure, and possible debt at the end of 1865, and 
contrast the financial position of the British Confede- 
rate with that of the American Federalist, we will find 
that the advantage is decidedly on the side of the 
latter. 

According to the Hon. A. T. Gait, the follow- 
ing is a fair statement of the revenue and expenditure 
of the provinces, of the debts and liabilities, of the 
trade exports and imports, and of all the assets and 
demands by which the future Confederation would 
be influenced, excluding of course the cost of such 
undertakings as great intercolonial roads or enlarge- 
ments of canals. Mr. Gait may not be a favourite with 
some theorists of the Colonial Office ; he certainly is 
not popular at Washington, and he is not more 
honoured at home than most prophets, but he is an 
able, clear-headed, trustworthy man : — 



346 



CANADA. 



THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE PROVINCES. 



Debt, 1363. 

Nova Scotia $4,85S,547 

New Brunswick 5,702,991 

Newfoundland (1862) .... 946,000 

Prince Edward Island 240,673 

Maritime Provinces .... $11,748,211 
Canada 67,263,994 

Totals . . . $79,012,205 



Income. 1863. 

$1,185,629 
899,991 
480,000 
197,3S4 

$2,763,004 
9,760,316 



Outlay, 1863. 

$1,072,274 
884,613 
479,420 
171,718 



$2,608,025 
10,742,S07 



$12,523,320 $13,350,S32 



INCREASED REVENUES IN 1864. 

Canada, without the produce of the new taxes $1,500,000 

New Brunswick 100,000 

Nova Scotia 100,000 

$1,700,000 

Deficit of 1863 $827,512 

Surplus of 1S64 872,488 

$1,700,000 

Total Revenues of all the Colonies, 1S64 $14,223,320 

Outlay 13,350,832 

Estimated Surplus $S72,4SS 



THE POSITION OF THE CONFEDERATION, 
BASIS OF 1S64. 


ESTIMATED ON THE 




Revenue now Local Revenues 
produced for which would 
General not go into the 
Government. general Chest. 


Subsidv to be Difference, avail- 
paid to able for the 
each purposes of the 
Province. GenL Government. 


Canada . 

Nova Scotia 

New Brunswick . 

Prince Edward Island 

Newfoundland 


$11,250,000 $1,297,043 

1,300,000 107,000 

1,000,000 S9.000 

200,000 32,000 

4S0,000 5,000 


$2,006,121 
264,000 
264,000 
153,728 
369,000 




$14,230,000 $1,530,043 


$3,056,849 $9,643,10S 



Difference pay- 
Expenditure. Local Outlay. able by the 

Genl. Government. 

Canada $9,800,000 $2,260,149 

Nova Scotia 1,222,555 667,000 

New Brunswick 834,518 424,047 

Prince Edward Island .... 171,718 124,016 

Newfoundland 479,000 479,000 

$12,507,591 $3,954,212 $8,553,379 

Surplus at the disposal of the General Government . . . $1,089,729 



Canada 
Nova Scotia . 
New Brunswick 



AVERAGE OF THE PRESENT TARIFFS. 
20 per cent. Newfoundland 



10 
154 



Prince Edward Island 



. 11 per cent. 
. 10 



IMPORTS, EXPORTS, AND TONNAGE. 



347 



FUTUKE POSITION OF THE PROVINCES. 

Estimated Outlay Estimated Local 
Local Revenues. for 1864 under Outlay under 

present Government. the Union. 

Nova Scotia $107,000 $667,000 $371,000 

New Brunswick 89,000 404,047 353,000 

Prince Edward Island . . . 32,000 171,718 124 015 

Newfoundland 5,000 479,000 250,000 

$233,000 $1,721,765 $1,098,015 .' 

Canada 1,297,043 (* 2,021,979 t 

I t 238,170 

$1,530,043 $3,981,914 \ 

* Average of the last four years. t Interest on excess of debt. 

t Not estimated by Mr. Gait, for reasons given in the speech. 



THE AUDITOR'S STATEMENT OF THE LIABILITIES OF CANADA 

Debenture Debt, direct and indirect $65,238,649 21 

Miscellaneous liabilities 64,426 14 

Common School Fund 1,181,958 85 

Indian Fund 1,577,802 46 

Banking Accounts 3,396,982 81 

Seigniorial Tenure : — 

Capital to Seigniors $2,889,711 09 

Chargeable on Municipalities' Fund . . . 196,719 66 

On account of Jesuits' Estates . . . 140,271 87 

Indemnity to the Townships . . . 891,500 00 

4,118,202 62 

$75,578,022 09 

Less— Sinking Funds $4,883,177 11 

Cash and Bank Accounts . ... 2,248,891 87 

7,132,06S 98 

$68,445,953 11 
Prom which, for reasons given in his speech, Mr. Gait deducted the 

Common School Fund 1,181,958 85 

Leaving as Net Liabilities .... $67,263,994 26 



IMPORTS, EXPORTS, AND TONNAGE OF THE PROVINCES. 



Canada . 
Nova Scotia 
New Brunswick . 
Prince Edward Island 
Newfoundland . 



Total Trade . 



Imports. 
$45,964,000 
10,201,391 
7,764,824 
1,428,028 
5,242,720 



. $137,447,567 



Exports. 
141,831.000 
8,420,968 
8,964,784 
1,627,540 
6,002,312 



Sea-going Tonnage. 
Inward and Outward. 

2,133,000 

1,432,954 

1,386,980 

No returns. 



$70,600,963 $66,S46,604 4,952,934 

66,846,604 Lake Tonnage 6,907,000 



Total Tons 



11,859,934 



34S CANADA. 

A people of more than four millions will owe some- 
thing over £13,000,000, as compared with a people of 
thirty millions owing £900,000,000 sterling; and with 
a trade of £27,000,000 a-year there is no compensating 
power in any commercial superiority the United States 
may possess to establish an equation. If the expenses of 
the local and of the Federal Governments be properly 
kept in hand, the condition of the British Confedera- 
tion, in a pecuniary point of view at all events, must be 
infinitely better than that of the Federal Union either 
by itself or with the Southern States. 

The Confederation which has just been proposed by 
delegates at Quebec, and which will come before Par- 
liament soon after this volume escapes from the prin- 
ters, vests the Executive in the Sovereign of Great 
Britain ; a superfluous investiture, unless the delegates 
meant rebellion; and it provides for its administration 
according to the British constitution, by the Sovereign or 
authorised representative. It does not appear very plain 
how the Sovereign of a mixed monarchy with a limited 
franchise for the people can administer his quasi-repub- 
lican and unaristocratic viceroyalty according to the 
principles of the British constitution ; particularly, as the 
Sovereign or his representative is to be the Commander- 
in-Chief of the land and naval forces of the Confedera- 
tion, which are thus expressly removed from the con- 
trol of the War-Office at home. Difficulties of a merely 
technical character will no doubt be overcome. But 
the King of Great Britain and Ireland, in whom the 
Executive is vested, will have to deal with a Trans- 
atlantic House of Commons founded on abstract returns 
of population, and elected by the provinces according 
to their local laws ; so that some members will represent 



PROPOSED FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 349 

universal suffrage, and others limited constituencies, 
which is very different indeed from the House of Com- 
mons of Great Britain and Ireland. 

In the Upper House a Wensleydale peerage is repro- 
duced. It is to consist of seventy-six members nomi- 
nated by the Sovereign for life, of whom twenty -four 
are assigned to Upper Canada, and twenty-four to 
Lower Canada, ten for Nova Scotia, ten for New 
Brunswick, four for Newfoundland, and four for Prince 
Edward Island. The Lower House, far less aristo- 
cratic in its relations to Lower and Upper Canada, has 
eighty-two members from the latter, and sixty-five 
from the former, nineteen from Nova Scotia, fifteen 
for New Brunswick, eight for Newfoundland, and five 
for Prince Edward Island. " Saving the Sovereignty 
of England," the powers of the Federal Parliament, as 
enumerated under thirty-seven different heads, are very 
large, and on such heads as currency and coinage seem 
to trench on dangerous ground, and in the last head of 
all are dangerously vague. The appointment of the 
Lieutenant-Governor by the Federal Government itself 
is obviously open to exception, because it is ano- 
malous ; but as all the principles as well as the details 
of the measure will receive "the most careful considera- 
tion, it is not necessary to treat the proposal as an 
accomplished fact, although it certainly is most desir- 
able to treat every article with respectful attention, and 
to give every weight to the expressed opinion cf the 
delegates. Among the objects specially indicated for 
the future action of the Confederate or Federal Govern- 
ment are the completion of the Intercolonial Railway 
from Riviere du Loup to Truro, in Nova Scotia, through 
the Province of New Brunswick, and the completion of 



350 CANADA. 

communication with the North- Western territories, so 
as to open the trade to the Atlantic seacoast \ both to 
be effected as soon as the Federal finances permit. 
Here there is the most tangible proposal for the open- 
ing up of the great regions to which I have called 
attention ; and the Valley of the Saskatchewan is pro- 
mised the facility which is alone wanting to make it 
the seat of a flourishing colony. When the Red River 
Settlement is once connected with Lake Superior, the 
way to the sea is open, but the advantages of access to 
the world will be increased enormously as soon as the 
railway is pushed on to the shores of Lake Huron from 
Nova Scotia. 

So eager is one to grasp at the benefits which some 
such Confederation promises to confer, that the perils 
to the prerogative of the Crown, and to the body so 
formed, are apt to lie hid from view. But they must 
be well guarded against ; and I for one am persuaded 
that it would be far better for us to see the Provinces 
of British America independent than to behold them 
incorporated with the Northern Republic. The greatest 
of all these internal perils is in the maintenance of the 
Local Parliaments, which may come into collision with 
the Federal Government on local questions impossible 
to foresee, or define, or adjust ; but as the delegates 
considered the plan of a complete Legislative Union 
quite incompatible with the reserved rights of a portion 
of the Confederation, the only way left to escape the 
mischiefs which threaten the future life of the new 
body is to bind those Local Parliaments within the 
most narrow limits, consistent with local utility and 
existence. 

It is not for the sake of our future connection, but 



•f 



LESSONS FROM THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE. 351 

for their own integrity and happiness that such a course 
is recommended. They have " an awful example " at 
their doors. The torrents of blood which have deluged 
the soil of the North American Republics all welled 
out of the little chink in the corner-stone of the Con- 
stitution, on one side of which lay States' Rights, and 
on the other Federal Authority. Without some justifi- 
cation in law and in argument, such men as Calhoun, 
and Stephens, and Davis, would never have reasoned, 
and planned, and fought, and worked a whole people 
up to make war against the Union. Sad as the spec- 
tacle is of a community of freemen waging war against 
the principles of self-government, it must be admitted 
that their instinct may be sounder than their reason- 
ing, and that they are engaged in a struggle for self- 
preservation, in which they have swelled their propor- 
tions into that of a gigantic despotism, but have after 
all attained a giant's port and strength. It is impos- 
sible to say whether the corruption which Montesquieu 
has declared to be the destruction of a democracy, has 
yet seized upon the tremendous impersonation of brute 
force, of unconquerable will, of passion, of lust of em- 
pire, which now rules in the Capitol, and occupies the 
throne whereon feebly sat heretofore the mild impuis- 
sance of the old Federal Executive ; but if the pictures 
which have been presented to us be true, there is a 
prophetic meaning in the words of the philosophic 
Frenchman : — " Les politiques grecs, qui vivaient dans 
le gouvernement populaire, ne reconnaissaient d'autre 
force qui put le soutenir que celle de la vertu. Ceux 
d'aujourd'hui ne nous parlent que des manufactures, de 
commerce, de finances, de richesse, et de luxe meme." 
The giant's feet may be of clay, and his body may be of 



352 CANADA. 

that artificial stiffening which gives to worthless stuffs 
a temporary substantiality, but behind the giant stand 
the great American people, with hands dyed in their 
brothers' gore, and who, having sacrificed friendship, 
traditions, constitution, and liberty at home, will think 
but little of adding to the pyre of their angry passions 
the peace and happiness of others. 



THE END. 



BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. 




London. BradburviEviuis. UHuimjri- Sirs 



£*!$***. 






*^%?v 



**^**»lkA.*A*Ar 



Wf<**tf 



W^NmS-^ ***** *' 



i sr*%. 



tmthk 









t^^y*™* 



M/wty%^ ^****»* 






******* 



»A*4JL£ 



'fyA^****^*' 



.«:••- 



,***//««,. 









.mmM^ 









#*wy 









'Ito&A 



,W»fti»«??^ 



MSSSmSR 



W* .4 












LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




017 298 735 7 # 



™ 



:^>.- 



fe • 






■ 

4 ^iy^ 


- •*« 


J! 


j 


i 

* 


X 


i 


4K 


P* 1 



